Winner of FTA Van Driver of the Year 2016 announced

Monday 18 July 2016

The winner of the third annual FTA Van Excellence Driver of the Year competition sponsored by LeasePlan has been announced. Matthew Young of AAH Pharmaceutical has become the overall champion by demonstrating outstanding professionalism, knowledge and excellent driving skills throughout.

The competition took place on Thursday 14 July, at Mercedes-Benz Wentworth Park, Barnsley, where each van driver took part in six separate tasks during the event in order to evaluate their overall ability – driving style, economical driving, manoeuvring, defect checking, legislation knowledge and risk awareness.

The winner was announced by FTA’s Head of Vans - Mark Cartwright, with the prizes being presented by Mark Lovett – Head of Commercial Vehicles at LeasePlan - who said: “We are delighted to support the FTA Van Excellence initiative for the third year running. We share the same vision the FTA and work in close partnership to jointly promote best practice in van drivers and the vital role that they play”.

“The Van Excellence Driver of the Year competition is the perfect platform to help change the perception of ‘White Van Man’ as it showcases the best of the best van drivers. They have been able to demonstrate their professionalism and prove that they are some of the most competent and professional drivers on the UK’s roads.”

The 12 finalists of the contest were nominated by their fleet manager who had recognised their professionalism and skills. Each was individually scored on a variety of tasks, ranked on their performance, and the overall winner was announced based on their scores.

FTA introduced three separate driving contests this year following the hugely successful Van Excellence Driver of the Year events in 2014 and 2015. The competitions celebrate the skills and abilities of professional drivers across the whole sector and aim to raise awareness of the importance of freight and logistics.

The Van Excellence Driver of the Year sponsored by LeasePlan UK, followed the 44 tonne contest - sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and the 18 tonne contest which was sponsored by Bridgestone.

Other winners from the Van Excellence event were:

2nd place: Lisa Hanley – G4S

3rd place: Gary Day – Riverford Organic Farms


Economical Driving Task – supported by Hertz Van Rental:  Colin Shearer - Kelly Fleet Services

Driving Style Test - supported by TomTom Telematics: Matthew Young - AAH Pharmaceutical

Pre-use Defect Check Task - supported by Bott:  Terry King - Balfour Beatty

Risk Awareness Test - supported by Licence Bureau - Jonathan Walls - Alliance Healthcare

Legislation Test - Terry King from Balfour Beatty

 Manoeuvring Task -supported by Lex Autoleasae - Lisa Hanley of G4S

The winners of all three contests- 44tonne Truck Driver, 18tonne Trucker Driver and Van Excellence will be assessed, and the overall winner of the FTA Driver of the Year competition 2016 will be revealed at the Freight in the City expo at Alexandra Palace on 2 November.
 

 
FTA Press Office
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