Caroline Burnell has her father to thank for sparking her interest in the motor industry at an early age.
Starting out as an engineering apprentice at Ford her dad then moved to the VW Group, where he spent 25 years moving through various roles including product manager, trainer and area manager before working for various retailers. He often took his young daughter on trips to events at venues such as Brands Hatch and Silverstone, and as Caroline says, she became “hooked by it all”.
So, when at 16 years of age the time came to find a work experience placement, she eschewed the route taken by her friends of going to offices or hairdressers or shops and instead found a position with the PR agency that represented the start-up online car sales business her father was working for at the time.
A six-month stint with Vauxhall in Luton followed before Caroline landed a full-time job with the same PR agency where she has started out, working with automotive clients including AutoTrader and Ford.
Following this, Caroline began her long association with Mercedes-Benz, finding a role working in the press office for commercial vehicles at the brand’s UK head office in Milton Keynes. A year later, she moved into the cars and AMG team for 12 months, before finally settling in the newly formed division of Mercedes-Benz Vans UK as PR Manager.
During the next eight years, Caroline’s role evolved to incorporate internal communications and events, as well as founding the charity committee. Caroline credits Steve Bridge, then MD at Mercedes-Benz Vans, as supporting her development and increasing her responsibilities.
Around this time, due to time spent supporting a family member who had fallen ill, Caroline made it her mission to educate herself about mental health and its wider impact within communities. She realised it was an issue that affected the LCV industry but was little talked about.
In her own words, Caroline became the “go-to” person for anyone to confide in who was worried about their own, or others’ mental health. She wanted to properly train to be able to best support people, so Mercedes invested in her to become a Mental Health First Aider.
In 2017, Caroline was able to bring to fruition an idea she had had for a while by launching the Business Barometer for Mercedes-Benz Vans to capture the views of hardworking LCV owners and drivers; asking them on a quarterly basis about their businesses, their issues and concerns, and about themselves. The first Barometer focused specifically on mental health, which generated a huge amount of press interest, with, as Caroline says, “people finally starting to realise that this was an important topic worth discussing”.
Over time the Business Barometers have covered topics such as food and nutrition, hydration, the impact of parking restrictions and traffic on stress levels, general health, resilience and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Caroline established a Weekly Wellness essay, which highlighted key research and guidance to promote mental wellbeing.
It is to Caroline’s immense credit that mental health, a topic rarely covered previously in the LCV sector, has since been taken up and addressed by other manufacturers.
Four years ago Caroline moved on from Mercedes-Benz UK to work for the brand’s commercial vehicle dealer eStar Truck and Van where she continues to raise mental health awareness with the ‘Guiding Star’ article for staff, which covers a different aspect of mental health and self-care each month.
Caroline is also committed to championing women in the commercial vehicle sector through speaking at events such as Daimler Truck UK’s inaugural Women in Automotive presentation and in mentoring and encouraging women into senior roles within the industry.
For her tireless work in promoting the role of women in the LCV sector and for raising awareness of mental health issues and supporting wellbeing campaigns, Caroline Burnell is a worthy inductee into the What Van? Hall of Fame.
