More than 80 years ago, a teenager set out on his rounds, pushing a hand cart selling fruit and vegetables. Today, his son is the head of one of Europe's biggest car dealerships. Deputy Business Editor Dan Jenkins looks at the rise of Reg Vardy.

THE foundations for one of Europe's leading car dealers were laid in 1923, when a 14-year-old called Reg Vardy left school and went into business.

At the time, owning even one car probably seemed like an impossible dream.

He pushed a hand cart laden with fruit and vegetables around his home village of Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland.

He bought a horse, Kitty, and switched from fruit and veg to delivering coal with his brother, Ted.

Seven years later, the brothers invested £38 in their first truck and were on their way to becoming hauliers.

By 1939, they had seven vehicles, which were commandeered for the war effort.

When peace came in 1945, Reg Vardy bought his first garage, a tin shed with two petrol pumps, at Stoneygate, in Houghton-le-Spring. A year later, while still building up the haulage business from the same site, he sold his first car.

By 1950, his garage became an official retail dealer for the Ford Motor Company.

As car sales took off, the haulage business was moved to another site and Stoneygate was developed as a car showroom.

Today, the group is run by his son, Sir Peter Vardy, who believes he learned a lot from Reg.

"He gave me faith and the ability to take a risk," he said. "He very much had his feet on the ground.

"Throughout my business life, I've made sure there's a good financial person behind me.

"Lots of people, when they start up in business, don't put the funding into place."

Reg died in 1976, aged 67, leaving the businesses to his three sons - David, Sir Peter and John.

All three joined the family firm from school and they worked together for six years.

During that time, they expanded the retail operation to include Aston Martins, Ferraris Rolls-Royces and Jaguar/Daimlers.

Sir Peter said: "Imagine, a pit village in the North of England where you could buy an Aston Martin.

"It became a bit of a magnet; folks came from all over. Business grew from that dealership and that gave us the confidence to go on and buy other dealerships. We built on that success."

IN 1982, the brothers decided to take different paths. John emigrated to Australia and David took control of the haulage business.

Sir Peter, who had always had a flair for the motor trade, took over the retail side.

Born in Hetton-le-Hole, near Durham, in 1947, he started at the bottom.

"I started work at 16 on the forecourt, sweeping the floors, serving petrol, washing cars, pulling them out in the morning and putting them away at night," he said.

"I spent time in the workshop and the paint shop, panel beating. Then I got on to selling. I think it is very important to have done all that."

He expanded the range to take in Rover and Vauxhall, then European and Japanese marques.

Reg Vardy opened its first North Yorkshire branch with a BMW franchise in Harrogate, in 1985, and made its first foray outside the region, a Jaguar/Rover business in Aberdeen.

By 1988, the company had 12 dealerships and a turnover of £100m, an achievement earning Sir Peter the award of North-East Businessman of the Year.

The following year, the company was floated on the Stock Exchange, raising £6m.

This heralded the start of an acquisitions strategy, with Reg Vardy plc snapping up the Trust Motor Group in 1989 and 11 dealerships from Caledonia Motor Group a year later.

In 1995, the group won the industry's Used Car Retailer of the Year award.

Today, there are 95 dealerships between Reading and Aberdeen, employing 5,700 staff who sell about 200,000 new and used cars a year.

The company's stated target is to have 100 dealerships by the end of this month.

It branched out into vehicle leasing with Vardy Contract Motoring in 1998, which operates a fleet of more than 10,000 vehicles. The same year, it set up an advertising and marketing agency, Vardy Marketing.

Sir Peter was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2001 in recognition of his services to business and education in the North-East.

Annual turnover last year was £1.6bn, making it one of the largest motor retailers in Europe.

Despite massive growth, it has retained close ties to the region.

Since 1999, the group has sponsored Sunderland AFC and its logo is on the club shirts.

Its head office, at Doxford Park, Sunderland, which opened in July 2001, is less than a mile from the original Reg Vardy site in Stoneygate.

A committed evangelical Christian, in 1990 Sir Peter established a charitable trust, the Vardy Foundation, to provide better education for children in deprived areas.

It is the major sponsor of two learning centres, Emmanuel College, in Gateshead, and King's Academy, in Middlesbrough, through the City Academy scheme.

A third site is due to open in Doncaster this year.

The Foundation has also donated £1m to Sunderland University. Its business school is named the Reg Vardy Centre.