#BE2018 winners announced
The 2018 bodyshop Event and Awards took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole tonight, where more than 600 attendees gathered to celebrate the achievements of some of the industry’s leading lights of the past year.
Hosted by BBC personality Chris Hollins, the gala dinner and awards ceremony is regarded as a highlight on the calendar with each award decided by an independent panel of industry peers.
This year also saw the introduction of the MET Apprentice of the Year, which was awarded to Henry Angus of Solus Park Royal.
Meanwhile, Bradley Booth of DLG Auto Services Barnsley was named Paint Apprentice of the Year and Dafydd Hughes of Paterson’s Auto collected the Panel Apprentice of the Year accolade.
bodyshop magazine would like to thank Thatcham Research for again sponsoring the apprentice awards.
Moving on to the technician awards, proudly sponsored by IBIS, and Steve Waite of Devonshire Motors continued his incredible record in the category by collecting the title for Paint Technician of the Year for the third time. He last won the award in 2012 and 2014.
Steve was joined in the winner’s circle by Nicholaus Owen of DLG Auto Services Orpington, who was named Panel Technician of the Year for a fantastic third time, and MET Technician of the Year George Roberts from Solus Warrington.
In the Education and Training of the Year category, sponsored by Ezi-Methods, Nationwide Accident Repair Services collected the title, while the Vehicle Manufacturer of the Year category, which was sponsored by Vizion Network, was won by Volkswagen Group UK, with Bentley Motors highly commended. Volvo Cars, which had won the title for three years running, was also nominated.
Enterprise Rent-a-Car was named Work Provider of the Year, and Covea Insurance added to its victory in 2016 by being crowned Insurance Company of the Year. This category was sponsored by AutoFlow.
Moving onto the bodyshop winners and Commercial Contract Engineers added to its three triumphs since 2010 by being named CV Bodyshop of the Year again, in a category sponsored by Sikkens Autocoat BT, while in the Small Bodyshop of the Year category, sponsored by Industry Insights, Fix Auto Luton came out on top.
Summers Motors took top honours in the Medium Bodyshop of the Year category, which this year was sponsored by Audatex, with IRG Hereford highly commended, and Fleetline Coachworks Ltd & Fix Auto Croydon was named Large Bodyshop of the Year, sponsored by AkzoNobel. IRG Cardiff was highly commended.
Among the individual accolades, Chris Aplin of LV= added to the title he last won in 2012 by being named VDA of the Year, an award sponsored by the IAEA, and the honour of being crowned Bodyshop Manager of the Year 2018 went to Mo Givian of Fix Auto Luton, completing a fantastic double on the evening. This category was sponsored by Mirka, and saw Joel Cameron of Fix Auto Penzance highly commended.
The evening was capped off with two special awards, recognising two individuals whose careers have left a lasting impression on the industry.
As founder of ITAS, Bryan Young’s incredible commitment to raising the safety, standards and skills of the sector was rightly recognised with the Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by the NBRA.
The final award of the evening recognised someone who is close to all our hearts here at bodyshop magazine, co-founder and chairman Chris Mann, whose incredible dedication over the years was recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by CEO Jason Moseley and co-founder and director David Young.
David said, ‘We had no idea bodyshop magazine would be as successful and enduring as it has been when we published the first issue all those years ago. Chris has been a driving force behind it, providing incredible vision and energy. His influence here and in the wider industry cannot be under-estimated, and it’s a privilege to recognise the positive impact he has had with this Lifetime Achievement Award.’
bodyshop magazine would like to thank everyone for attending, the hard work of the entire team here, whose amazing dedication and efforts helped to make the evening such a success, and of course our sponsors, without whom none of this would have been possible.
They include headline partners AkzoNobel and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, as well as sponsors Audatex, Autoflow, Auto Industry Consulting, CAPS, Car-O-Liner, Ezi Methods, Fix Auto, IBIS, Industry Insights, Mirka, NBRA, NIBS, S&B Automotive Academy, Sikkens, Symach, Thatcham Research, the IAEA and Vizion.
