News: Culina’s Giorgio Lercara Named Microlise Driver of The Year, Whilst John Mitchell Haulage Take Home Driver Excellence Award

Giorgio Lercara of Culina has been named Microlise Driver of the Year, beating the competition of over 110,000 HGV drivers who were originally considered within the process. The award was presented by HRH The Princess Royal at last week’s Microlise Transport Conference, attended by over 1,000 transport industry professionals.

Lercara was named overall winner after a process that involved analysing the telematics information from 110,000 drivers engaging with Microlise systems, who met basic eligibility criteria such as driving a minimum number of miles in each of the four quarters of 2015.

Specific distance awards were handed out the evening before the conference, with Lercara securing the short distance category, Ian Cupples of John Mitchell Haulage being named winner of the medium distance category and Kevin McLeod of CM Downton taking home the long distance award.

In a brand new category, John Mitchell Haulage of Grangemouth, Stirlingshire won the Driver Excellence award, as a result of having the highest proportion of their drivers in the top 1,000 based on the analysis of telematics data.

The University of Nottingham’s Advanced Data Analysis Centre reviewed the captured data to generate the initial shortlist, with questionnaires then collected from the managers of each driver to highlight reasons why they might be a deserving winner.

These questionnaires were finally independently reviewed by a judging panel that included Road Haulage Association CEO Richard Burnett; Honorary Professor at Aston Business School and former MAN Truck & Bus UK CEO Des Evans; Road Transport Media Managing Editor Christopher Walton; Motion Magazine Editor Sharon Clancy and Microlise Executive Director Bob Harbey.

“HGV drivers play a critical role in the supply chain and often go unrecognised for the remarkable efforts they go to. We are pleased to be able to highlight their efforts and reward the exemplary performers for their contribution. Congratulations to Giorgio for this outstanding achievement and to John Mitchell Haulage, which has demonstrated a dedication to quality and excellence across their driving staff,” said Harbey.

There were several new categories included for this year with the line-up including Extra Mile, HGV Hero, Lifetime Achievement, Most Improved, Young Driver and Driver Excellence.

For the new categories the judges reviewed nominations which were submitted online through the Microlise Transport Conference website.

A range of organisations were shortlisted including; B&Q, Bibby Distribution, Bidvest, BOC, Ceva, Culina, Downton, Fowler Welch, Hovis, John Mitchell Haulage, Next, Samworth Brothers, Synergy, Warburtons and WM Armstrong Transport.

The full shortlist of 24 drivers enjoyed a Porsche track day courtesy of MAN Truck & Bus UK.

The Microlise Driver of the Year Awards, which featured as part of the MIcrolise Transport Conference, will run once again in 2017.

Watch out for nomination details, which are set to begin again in January 2017, by visiting [www.microliseconference.com/awards]www.microliseconference.com/awards.