Marek and HRH

Great Bear driver Marek Mackiewicz has been named the 2022 Microlise Driver of the Year, beating off stiff competition from more than 240,000 other UK drivers whose performance is measured by Microlise.

He was presented his trophy by HRH The Princess Royal at the Microlise Transport Conference last week, in front over 1,000 delegates from across the transport industry.

Mackiewicz, who works on Great Bear's Cadbury contract and has driven for the company for the last five of his 16-year career, also came top of the Medium distance category. The Short Distance category was won by Carl McCabe from Gist and the Long Distance title was taken by Alan Bateman from Ceva Logistics.

Meanwhile Maritime Transport won the Driver Excellence award, as they had the highest proportion of drivers in the top 1,000, based on analysis of all telematics data.

The winners of a number of nomination-based categories were also announced at a gala dinner the night before the conference including EV Downton’s Luke Tranter as Young Driver and Sam Rawlings from Gist as Most Improved Driver. Craig Walker from Hovis won the Extra Mile award while Steve Lynch from EV Downton won Driver Hero. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Hovis’s James Elflain.

The independent judging panel, which reviewed the entries for each of these categories, included RHA MD Richard Smith, Motor Transport editor Steve Hobson, London and South East TC Sarah Bell and Road to Logistics head of talent Jennifer Swain.

The full shortlist of 24 drivers, who will enjoy a Porsche track day, are:

Short Distance (under 30,000 miles per annum)

Winner: Carl McCabe, Gist

Runners-up: Ian Bartlett, Waitrose; Stewart Cruz, Maritime Transport

Medium Distance (30,000 to 60,000 miles per annum)

Winner: Marek Mackiewicz, Great Bear/Culina

Runners-up: Brian Grant, Co-op; David Howe, Maritime Transport

Long Distance (over 60,000 miles per annum)

Winner: Alan Bateman, Ceva Logistics

Runners-up: Gordon Mann, Maritime Transport; Tajinderpal Singh Sanga, Alliance Healthcare

Driver Excellence sponsored by the RHA

Winner: Maritime Transport

Runners-up: Yodel; Travis Perkins

Extra Mile sponsored by Bridgestone

Winner: Craig Walker, Hovis

Runners-up: Amber Cameron, Travis Perkins; Steven March

HGV Hero sponsored by Apex

Winner: Steve Lynch, EV Downton

Runner-up: Gareth Bell, Boughey Distribution

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