Known as Cambelters, he set up shop at 30 Saville Road, Westwood, Peterborough, in May.

Since then, business has been on the up and up, with Paul also planning to set up a franchise operation in mid-2009.

He has attracted an "unexpected" customer base for his cambelt business, from far and wide, including North Wales, Shrewsbury, Bristol and London. Many of his clients have read about his service on the internet (www.cambelters.co.uk), being especially attracted by his competitive price.

"A typical job could cost between £200 and £300 – hundreds of pounds below main dealer prices – and takes three to four hours," said Paul.

"We can deal with any model of car, usually those which are five years or older, with 70,000 miles on the clock."

But it was far from plain sailing, as Paul originally ran the operation as a mobile business. It took him 18 months to find suitable premises.

He had been a self-employed car mechanic for 18 years and spent six years in a business unit at Benedict Square, Werrington, Peterborough, before going mobile for two years.

It was only "happenstance" that led Paul to his specialist operation.

The fitting and replacement of cambelts part of his work was proving very popular, so he did his research and decided to specialise.

He then set up his own website which was soon receiving up to 100 hits a day. In the last two years, his site has had 41,000 hits.

He started as a mobile business after six months with the idea of setting up a branch and then expanding.

Many of his mobile customers followed him to his Westwood unit, a 1,400sq ft space with a separate office.

He is also receiving referrals from other garages.

Paul is planning to open a branch in London in the coming months and has negotiated a parts supplier, Contitech, for Cambelters.

He will, therefore, be looking to employ extra staff – someone in admin/parts and a mechanic.

For more details, call Paul Ringrose on 01733 260117, e-mail paul@cambelters.co.uk or visit www.cambelters.co.uk.