Aston Barclay has appointed Karl Ward, previously remarketing manager at Ogilvie Fleet Ltd, as manager of for its new Wakefield super centre.

L-R: Martin Potter, group managing director, Aston Barclay with Karl Ward, centre manager, Aston Barclay Wakefield 

In his new role, Ward will build on the successes achieved since Wakefield opened in January 2019 and continue to deliver Aston Barclay’s stated goal of ‘connecting customers to cars’. Referred to by the firm as its ‘Northern Powerhouse’, the centre currently offers twice weekly dealer sales and a weekly fleet sale offering in excess of 1,000 vehicles per week for leading national and regional dealer groups, as well as top fleets and finance houses.

Ward brings some 13 years’ experience in the vehicle auction and remarketing industry and has also worked across a variety of business roles including operations, sales and centre management and, coupled with his experience as a vendor, has built up a solid understanding of the processes and service requirements of all stakeholders.

He was most recently as remarketing manager at Ogilvie Fleet Ltd where he had control of all remarketing divisions. In this role he worked closely with Aston Barclay, selling over 2,500 units across four of its five sites.

Prior to his role with Ogilvie, he was head of operations and sales including senior auctioneer at British Car Auctions’ (BCA) Leeds site, previously SMA and, prior to that, Premier Motor Auctions when the Leeds site was the largest independent auction centre in the UK.

Ward commented: “To have the opportunity to head-up the most advanced auction facility in Europe, if not the world, is fantastic. The Wakefield centre is local to me and therefore I understand the important role it plays in the local automotive community. I really look forward to supporting the business with its future development and growth strategies.”