Microlise crowns 2023 Driver of the Year Winners

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

microlise.com