Special congratulations go to two of our Stobart drivers who successfully claimed Awards.

Stobart Driver, Simon Poll from Leicestershire, won the Award for Driver Hero of the Year, following a fatal road traffic collision, where Simon displayed not only quick thinking but exceptional bravery, which lead to him receiving a commendation from Leicestershire Police.

Stobart Driver, Ian Simpson from Cumbria, won the Short Distance Award, based on his driving performance recorded through Microlise.

This shortlisting followed a review of over 220,000 drivers’ performance data from across the UK.

The Microlise Awards each year recognise the UK’s most talented HGV drivers, acknowledge the vital work they do, and the professionalism with which they carry out their work.

The Microlise Awards were developed in cooperation with the vital support of The University of Nottingham, with a team at the Advanced Data Analytics Centre providing impartial analysis of telematics data.

The short distance categories are based on data collected by Microlise telematics units. Now in their third year, these telematics-based awards are defined by analysing anonymous data assessed against a range of criteria using a process defined by the University of Nottingham’s Advanced Data Analysis Centre.

The Microlise Driver of the Year Awards judging panel was made up of Bob Harbey – Executive Director (Microlise), Richard Burnett – Chief Executive (Road Haulage Association), James Hookham – Deputy Chief Executive (Freight Transport Association), Steve Hobson – Editor (Road Transport Media) and Nick Welch – Head of Technical Services (RTITB).

This is the second successive year that a Hoddesdon driver has won this award with Giorgio Lercara picking up last year’s award.

The main award was presented to Giorgio personally by Princess Anne – The Princess Royal at the Microlise Transport Conference 2016, held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on 18 May in front of over 1,000 transport industry leaders.

Giorgio was previously a van driver for Culina’s Corney & Barrow operation out of Hoddesdon. Giorgio has also driven rigid vehicles before progressing to driving articulated vehicles which he has been doing for just over a year now.

“Giorgio is a prime example of what we are achieving here at Culina. Our national and local programmes are enabling Culina to train and develop the most professional drivers in the industry”.

“Our drivers are an absolutely key component of our company. Culina stand or fall by the quality of the drivers we recruit and train. Giorgio is a testament to the high quality driver training provided by Culina Group. Indeed this year three Culina Group drivers were shortlisted into the final 22 drivers for the Microlise ‘Driver of the Year’ award. This was from a total of 110,000 drivers from across the UK transport industry whose performance was measured by Microlise” Commented Thomas van Mourik – Culina Group CEO.

The Microlise Awards have the stated aim of highlighting the UK’s most talented Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers and acknowledging the vital work they do. The headline Microlise Driver of the Year Award is based purely on the analysis of telematics data and manager feedback.