Booming new car sales have led a family-owned Bradford-based motors group to launch a recruitment drive for its dealerships across the North.

JCT600, one of the UK’s largest privately-owned motor traders with 47 outlets, has held a series of careers evenings across Yorkshire.

But it also wants to hear from potential candidates who missed the events to help it fill about 70 vacancies across a range of roles.

Graham Clark, HR director, said: “We are keen to encourage people to contact us if they’re looking for a new career. Even if they weren’t able to attend one of our recent careers evenings, it’s not too late to get in touch and discuss our current vacancies “With almost 50 dealerships and a workforce of more than 1,800 people, we have a wide variety of roles on offer and can provide fantastic opportunities for progression.

“Most roles do not require specific motor-related experience and there are a huge range of positions available from sales, after-sales and administration staff to technicians and service advisers. We are looking for people who are enthusiastic, customer-focussed and who are keen to learn and work hard.

“As a long-established family business, we pride ourselves on looking after our team and enabling them to grow with us – we want to attract the best people and keep them. Many colleagues have over 35 years of service having risen through the business, thanks to our robust internal development programme.”

Based at Apperley Bridge, JCT 600 is owned by the Tordoff family and has operated for more than 60 years. It now has dealerships throughout Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the North East and sells 19 brands of cars from Minis to Bentleys.

When the latest registrations started in September the company delivered a record 2,500 cars, 66 per cent higher than a year earlier. Its Bradford Peugeot outlet on Sticker Lane became one of the manufacturer’s top performing UK dealers after increasing sales of new cars by nearly three quarters.

JCT’s recruitment drive coincides with the latest industry figures showing that the number of cars built in the UK topped 1.5 million last year, the highest for six years, amid “surging” demand at home and abroad. Vehicles rolled off a production line every 20 seconds, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Production increased by 3.1 per cent in 2013, with analysts predicting that output would reach record levels of about two million by 2017.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “2013 demonstrated the value of the UK’s diverse car manufacturing industry, as surging home demand and robust exports outside Europe saw output grow 3.1 per cent to over 1.5 million units.

“UK automotive investment announcements exceeded £2.5 billion in 2013, reinforcing industry analysts’ suggestions that the UK could break all-time car output records within the next four years.”

More details about job opportunities are available at jct600.co.uk/careers or texting ‘VIP JOBS’ to 80010.