Two ex-servicemen are looking to create a drop-in centre for military veterans and a vehicle workshop where disabled soldiers can be given training in motor mechanics.

Stewart “Twiggy” Roberts owns HX Motors in Sutton Valence. He is a former Royal Marine Commando with five foreign tours under his belt, who – 10 years after his service ended – was struck down with PTSD and spent six months in therapy.

His friend and employee Adam “Legless” Francis, is a former Royal Engineer, who had both his legs blown off by an IED while serving in Afghanistan.

Together they are seeking planning permission to construct an 8,000 sq metre steel-framed workshop on a field next to Mr Francis’s home in Lenham Road, Headcorn.

The building would house HX Motors on the ground floor in a workshop purpose-built to enable disabled veterans to work there.

The upper floor would be entirely devoted to being a drop-in centre for veterans and as offices and counselling rooms for a number of military charities.

The pair already run an informal drop-in service at the garage’s current premises.

Mr Roberts said: “I started the business specialising in Land Rover repairs here on this site about six years ago, and then I met Adam at the Kent County Show about four years ago.

“His wife has got a Land Rover Defender and we were just chatting about how we could adapt the Defender so that he could drive it.

“Then we started working together here, and very quickly a lot of veterans started coming in to see us.

“They came just to have a bit of chit-chat, a bit of banter, which they were all missing from their service days.

“A couple were friends we knew, but then it grew very quickly by word of mouth.”

Mr Francis said: “We’ve got the two of us, one with a physical disability and one who has been through the mental side of things with PTSD.

“Veterans who were having issues from leaving the service could talk to us and just see how we’d coped.

“Twiggy (Mr Roberts) with the mental side of things, and then they’d see me with no legs, and think, ‘We’ll at least I haven’t ended up like that!’

Mr Roberts said: “We have got a bit of a sick sense of humour, that’s what got us through our times when we were away. Lots of veterans do struggle to get into Civvy Street; it’s the transition period they find really difficult.

“So if they can come and talk to us and just let off some steam and just be around like-minded people with that military sense of humour, it helps.”

“We all have a bit of banter and all take the p*** out of each other, you feel like you’re at home almost.”

Mr Roberts said: “Again because we specialise in Land Rovers, there’s a familiarity there. Because anyone who did their service in our era would have driven Land Rovers everywhere.

“So people always have a story about when they were driving one and got stuck somewhere or something happened.

“That familiarity gets them talking. It’s a good ice-breaker.”

Mr Roberts served 14 years in the Royal Marines from 1997 to 2011. He did tours in Kosovo, Iraq and three tours in Afghanistan.

He said: “I came out in 2011 when they were basically pencilling me in for my fourth tour and I said enough is enough to be quite honest.

“After that I bumbled along trying to do things. I did two years in Iraq in offshore anti-piracy, and then came back and set up this business.

“Then I almost lost everything when I got my PTSD. For me, it took 10 years for it to actually come out.

“I’ve learnt a lot about it since. We all think we’re the big hard man where you just bottle it up, especially when you’re out there doing the job.

“You just put a lid on it. Don’t deal with it. But eventually, that lid comes off.”

“It got to a point where I had flashbacks, bad nightmares. I was lashing out in my sleep, to the point where my missus had to walk out.

“I don’t blame her – you become very inside of yourself and just push everyone away from you. Family, friends, loved ones, you just push them aside.

“So basically I went from having a perfect life to nothing overnight.

“Which is why now I can help others go through that situation. And both of us can actually recognise lads in that position very quickly. Someone tells us about it, explains what they’re going through, and we go: ‘Yeah, you need to come and see us!’

Mr Roberts did six months intensive EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy to get him past the PTSD.

He said: “It seems like witchcraft and I still do not understand it, but it worked.

“I swear by it and other lads who have gone through it swear by it too.

“Basically, it’s a very clever system. The best way to explain it, if you’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, the first 20 minutes is quite horrific, but it won’t affect you for life.

“So this process is getting your brain to think that all the horrible things that have happened are almost like a movie.

“The memories are still there, but they’re not triggered by your senses, by things like smells, anymore.”

“I’ve still got all those thoughts, but only if I want to think about it.”

Adam Francis served with the Princess of Wales Regiment, based at Rochester, from 2001 till 2015.

He was attached to the Mercian Regiment when he was deployed to Afghanistan.

He said: “I was in the Territorial Army (TA), a volunteer. It was just the one tour for me, then I lost my legs!”

Mr Roberts joked: “Just a half a tour really – you came home early!”

I thought tooth and nail to get back to work

Mr Francis said: “The doctors told me it would be six months before they’d think about getting me standing up and walking again, but me being a difficult customer, I pushed and pushed to be up within three months.

“Which I did on three months to the day.

“Then I pushed myself through Headley Court (the Army’s recovery centre), cause I’ve a got a wife and kids.

“I didn’t have a nice military pension to fall back on because I was TA.

“So I’ve had to think about my future and getting back to work.”

“I was a lorry driver when I deployed to Afghanistan and I promised my kids that my injury wouldn’t change anything, that It would all go back to normal.

“So I fought tooth and nail to get my HGV licence back and go back to work as a lorry driver.

“I was out of Headley Court in less than 24 months, fully recovered and rehabilitated and working.”

He is now a mechanic at HX Motors.

Mr Francis said: “When we get planning permission, MidKent College have said they will put me through an NVQ assessor’s course, so I can monitor and mentor other lads and ladies coming through the doors. We’ll hopefully be able to send them away with a qualification to get a new job.”

Mr Roberts said it was his intention to employ more ex-veterans directly in the business.

He said: “We have the custom to take on another veteran right now, but we don’t have the space in our current premises.”

The plan is for the new building to be owned by a charity called Veterans’ Operating Base. They are going through the charity registration process now.

Mr Roberts said: “The workshop will be on the ground floor and the first floor will be entirely devoted to veterans, with three military charities based there.”

Mr Francis said: “HX Motors will pay a rent to our charity, which will fund the drop-in centre.”

They have four military charities interested in taking part, including Veterans Lifeline, Help Our Wounded, Veterans of War, and The Bridge.

The Bridge is supporting the scheme saying it would relocate its HQ to the new building, where it would provide clinical out-patient care to ex-servicemen with “a wide variety of mental health issues, but in particular combat-related PTSD.”

Help Our Wounded is similarly supportive. The charity said: “It is our intention to use the venue as a hub for our charity activities.”

“We would be looking to base one of our personnel at the centre working from a dedicated, secure office. Our charity supports both veterans and their dependants. We finance therapy treatments for those suffering from PTSD and similar conditions and we help re-house homeless veterans through our emergency care packages.”

Veterans’ Lifeline said it regularly supported around 40 veterans each month. It said: “The thought of having a veterans’ support hub and training centre in Headcorn would be an absolute game-changer for us and we would look to place a case worker in the support hub instantly and take full advantage of everything the centre has to offer.”

But the scheme faces an uphill battle.

The pair made a very similar planning application in 2021 which was rejected first by Maidstone council and then by a planning inspector on appeal, on the grounds that it was an unwarranted intrusion into the countryside.

The inspector said: “The testimony given in support of the application is powerful in conveying that there is a considerable need for support for military veterans, especially those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The ambition is laudable.”

But he still refused permission, saying that if you took away the veterans’ hub element, you were left with a new motor workshop in the countryside.

Mr Roberts said they were hopeful of a better result this time.

He said: “When we first applied, we got a lot of support from the public and from our neighbours, but we came up against opposition from the council.

“Since we put in our new application, the council has given us a lot of advice and they seem a lot more positive about it this time.

“Headcorn Parish Council have aways been on board, and the local councillor Martin Round is also behind us, as is the Mayor, Gordon Newton.

“I think two years ago, people didn’t fully understand what we wanted to do, but this time people are getting it.”

Mr Francis, who has lived adjacent to the site for eight years, said: “There’s been a very large equestrian centre built next door and we’ve very much modelled our building on what has been approved there.”

Mr Roberts said: “There’s a real need for this sort of centre. In my grandad’s age there were working men’s clubs and RBL clubs where ex-servicemen could meet up, but they are few and far between these days.

“There is nowhere anyone can go to get that kind of comradeship today.

“When we get four or five veterans in here, the banter is amazing. Everyone goes home smiling.

“Sometimes people text us later and say: ‘Thank you, I was having a really bad day, and that visit was just what I needed.’

Mr Francis emphasised the need for a purpose-built workshop.

He said: “Space is an issue here for a disabled person like myself, even though the guys have built me a special narrow electric wheelchair to help me get around.

“We can’t just go out and rent a building. If we want to bring in other veterans who are disabled and in wheelchairs and don’t want to be stuck behind a desk, we need somewhere suitable to do it.”

Their building would be designed with the disabled in mind, with wide doors and low counters.

Mr Francis said: “There have been many studies by colleges and the MoD that have proven that mental health is better treated in a more rural, peaceful location.

“Veterans are generally happier in countryside locations and would feel happier to come to us in Headcorn.”

The application can be viewed here.

Application number 23/502511 refers.