Well holiday season is upon us and clearly this is having a detrimental effect on the automotive industry, well that is car sales at least, but it's Friday and I don't want to get hung up on that as I think there has been enough said about the stability of the used car market this week to keep us all going for some time. With differing opinions usually put in two camps, Camp 1 - Glass half full, Camp 2 - Glass half empty, I guess we will have to wait and see whether the optimists or pessimists prevail in their predictions. Nuff said.

On Wednesday the Motor Trader Awards went off with a bang as 1,000 plus automotive figureheads descended on the luxurious Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane London for what promised to be a cracker.

This year marked the 20th Anniversary of the prestigious awards and boy it didn't disappoint.

The food was okay but the drink, which flowed freely, was better and those who had made outstanding achievements (or maybe spent large sums of advertising money with Motor Trader)...ooh such a cynic....were duly rewarded.

Despite talk of economic downturn and poor market conditions as mentioned earlier, I was surprised by the amount of money that had been pumped into the event and how much everyone was going to town - it was clearly not pocket change. The glitterati were out in full and the Dealer Community were there to make the most of it! Having mingled and schmoozed my way through the evening, Dave Spikey, supported ably by Ray Stubbs, provided the light entertainment and from what I remember they weren't bad.

When I finally stumbled out of the venue, a little bleary eyed I must admit, I was brought back to reality with a thump. Some cheeky %^&$ had pinched my prepaid cab, that's right - you know who you are and, wherever you are, you owe me £40!

Till next time folks enjoy the weekend.