Trevor Geer, who in his spare time is team manager of the high-flying Eastbourne Eagles speedway team, has taken up the post of lead technician.

Meanwhile, former Southern FM sales executive Gavin Potter has joined Rok as local customer leader. He will work to secure new customers for Rok's offices in Eastbourne, Brighton and Crawley.

The appointments follow a major recruitment drive by Rok across the region in which more than 140 people have been interviewed and 20 new starters given jobs. Eight apprentices have been taken on, four of whom are based at Eastbourne.

Trevor, 54, from Polegate, will be working within Rok's maintenance division at Eastbourne. He is returning to the post having formerly worked for Rok and Llewellyn, which was acquired by Rok in 2002.

When not working for Rok, Trevor will remain in the driving seat with the Eastbourne Eagles, looking after the riders and helping to make tactical decisions for the Elite league outfit during race meetings.

He is a former rider himself, helping to power the Eagles to victory in the second division in 1971 and White City to the top of the first division in 1977.

In his role, Gavin Potter, 29, will be aiming to continue an impressive trend of growth for Rok in Eastbourne and Brighton that contributed to a seventh consecutive year of record financial results, announced last month.

Gavin, from Eastbourne, said, "My role will be to bring us new customers from the local area by promoting the tailor-made maintenance and repair services that Rok offers. We already have some strong maintenance contracts locally and I plan to build on these.

"By focusing on our customers' needs and the service we provide when we build and maintain properties in our local communities, we believe we will be well placed when the economy recovers."