The Group has welcomed nine new drivers into its Driver of the Year hall of fame
Microlise Group, a leading global provider of telematics and fleet management solutions, has officially crowned the winners of its 2023 Driver of the Year (DOTY) awards.
During an exclusive awards ceremony and black-tie VIP dinner on Tuesday 16th May, Booker Limited’s Keith Ashworth was named as this year’s ‘Overall Driver of the Year’ having been selected from a competitive pool of 240,000+ drivers.
Keith also won in the Group’s ‘Long Distance’ category, fighting off competition from two Maritime Transport drivers, David Howe and Peter Gunthorpe. The ‘Short Distance’ category was won by Eddie Stobart’s Ian Simpson, while Christopher Beswick from Gist Limited walked away with this year’s ‘Medium Distance’ trophy.
Meanwhile, Yodel scooped the 2023 ‘Driver Excellence’ award, with the highest proportion of drivers in the top 1,000, based on analysis of all telematics data. And Andis Rudulis from White Logistics was crowned as TruTac’s most ‘Compliant Driver’.
During last night’s award ceremony, winners of the Group’s nomination categories were also announced, including Eddie Stobart’s Simon Poll as ‘Driver Hero’ and Gareth Bell from Boughey Distribution in the category ‘Extra Mile’.
Marvin Mandofa topped the group for Waitrose as this year’s ‘Most Improved’ driver, while Bunzl Healthcare’s Benjamin Lumley waved the flag as ‘Young Driver’ of the year.
Finally, this year’s independent judging panel honoured the Co-Op’s Arthur Black with a Lifetime Achievement award.
Speaking on the award ceremony, Phil Roe, President of Logistics UK and judge on this year’s panel, said: “Microlise Group’s Driver of the Year awards are great opportunity to further understand the fantastic performance from our professional Drivers across the UK logistics Industry.”
Steve Hobson, Editor of Motor Transport and fellow judge added: “It is absolutely fantastic to see drivers rewarded for their professionalism and dedication to duty. They really are the unsung heroes of road transport.”
All 24 finalists received a Porsche track day at Silverstone, and winners were presented with commemorative trophies.
MICROLISE DRIVER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2023 – WINNERS CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2023 DRIVER OF THE YEAR WINNERS! SHORT DISTANCE
WINNER:
Ian Simpson, Eddie Stobart
FINALISTS:
Jude Benjamin Knight, Waitrose
Neil Crossland, Energas
MEDIUM DISTANCE
WINNER:
Christopher Beswick, GIST
SHORTLIST:
Ahmed Rashid Hameed, Wm Armstrong Group
Krzysztof Jaskot, Waitrose
LONG DISTANCE
WINNER:
Keith Ashworth, Booker
FINALISTS:
David Howe, Maritime Transport
Peter Gunthorpe, Maritime Transport
DRIVER EXCELLENCE
Sponsored by Microlise
WINNER:
Yodel
FINALISTS:
Booker
Maritime Transport
COMPLIANT DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by TruTac
WINNER:
Andis Rudulis, White Logisitcs
FINALISTS:
Artur Strzelec, Fagan & Whalley
Graham Watson, Frontier Agriculture
EXTRA MILE
Sponsored by MultiProtextion
WINNER:
Gareth Bell, Boughey Distribution
FINALISTS:
Janusz Tomasz Skiba, TDW Distribution
Christopher Leroux, Yodel
DRIVER HERO
Sponsored by Tevva
WINNER:
Simon Poll, Eddie Stobart
FINALISTS:
Gary Green, Hovis
Stephen Shrewsbury-Gee, Suttons Group
MOST IMPROVED DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by HVS
WINNER:
Marvin Mandofa, Waitrose
FINALISTS:
Stella Lavric, Hovis
Christopher John Parsonage, Euro Car Parts
YOUNG DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Mercedes
WINNER:
Benjamin David Lumley, Bunzl Healthcare
FINALISTS:
Ben Vincent, John Lewis Partnership
Daniel Cassell-Devey, Culina Logistics
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Sponsored by MAN
WINNER:
Arthur Black, Co-Op
FINALISTS:
Michael Playle, Hovis
John Paul Brace, Pladis
