A CAR company commissioned a college survey by Leigh-based students.

Corkills Volkswagen dealership asked Leigh College students to carry out market research to find out more about car buyers' habits.

And full-time GNVQ Business School students, based at Leigh campus, took to the streets for answers.

The college regularly invites Corkills sales manager, Gino Melancris, to talk to students. This time it was Gino who approached Phil Newton, Head of the Business School, for help.

Mr Newton said: "The GNVQ Business Course is about giving students practical business problems to study. This was an opportunity we could not resist."

Students hit the streets with a questionnaire they devised and prepared a final report based on their findings.

They presented their findings to Gino at Corkills' showroom in Wigan.

And the company is delighted with the students' findings.

Student Gemma Howarth said: "We all enjoyed this practical approach to a real-life project.

"The experience has been very worthwhile and will be relevant to our studies.

"We discovered eight out of 10 would-be purchasers look in their local paper for information before setting out to buy a new or used car."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.