Caergwrle MOT centre only do MOT’s, no repairs, and is a good alternative to the council centre. I used them last year and no problems. They do charge a bit more than some (£40), but you then have two weeks for a free re-test, and as mentioned, they have no incentive to fail you other than for genuine safety-related reasons.
Also, bit of a myth that you cannot do any work on modern cars, especially basic servicing and maintenance. Brakes pads and discs haven’t really changed, an oil filter is an oil filter, ditto fuel filter, air filter, spark plugs/glow plugs, all simple to do. The internal combustion engine still works in the same way.
It also amazes me how many people waste money by routinely taking their cars only to main stealers (sorry, dealers) for servicing. You might as well throw your money away, shocking what they can charge for nothing more than a change of oil.
Recently had no choice but to take my mrs car to a main dealer (just off the A483, and not Ford or Peugeot) as I was working away. They diagnosed the problem (after having the car for two days) as a faulty auxiliary tensioner, and replaced it at £170. Two days later, the problem re-surfaced, she took it back, they again had it for 2 days, and said the replacement part itself was faulty, and installed another new part. A week later, the problem comes back, and it took me less than an hour, with the aid of google and youtube, to find out what the true problem was (not enough lubricant in the air conditioning system). Then got an independent garage to re-gas for a few quid.
How come the highly trained dealership guys have the car for 4 days in total, and replace a part (twice!) that didn’t even need replacing, and it takes me an hour on the internet to find the real problem? Always use a good independent garage if you can.