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The windscreen repair boss who has cracked it

Autoglass is the UK's leading car-glass repair service. We meet the publicity-shy man driving the growth.

May 12, 2011 10:27
Smashing success: Gary Lubner’s Belron windscreen repair firm achieved €2.8bn worth of sales last year

By

Candice Krieger,

Candice Krieger

3 min read

Not many businesses have a theme tune. But then not many serve 11 million people a year and complete a job every three seconds, 365 days a year.

Gary Lubner's Belron is the world's largest vehicle-glass repair and replacement company. The firm's UK brand, Autoglass, is one of the nation's most well-known names, partly due to its catchy advertising jingle "Autoglass repair Autoglass replace" - more on that later. There is more to Belron than just a memorable melody.

The group is a family-run business, established more than 100 years ago in South Africa. Mr Lubner's grandfather Morrie was one of the founders and grew the firm in South Africa, before his sons Ronnie - Gary's father - and Bertie took over. Ronnie moved the business out of South Africa in the 1970s. He remains on the board as life chairman.

An accountant, Gary Lubner started at Belron in the 1980s in South Africa, following a stint at top firm Arthur Andersen. He moved to the UK in 1988 to study at the London Business School before joining the company's British arm in 1991 to grow the business in Europe. He became managing director of Autoglass three years later.

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