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.

The full shortlist can be seen here.