Scania Young Driver of the Year competition 07

In Sodertalje, an industrial town close to Stockholm a steady stream of coaches (Scania coaches obviously, Sodertalje being the home of Scania's HQ) drops off drivers, their families, Scania staff and press from over 27 countries into the towns numerous hotels. Over the following two days 27 drivers were subjected to the most stringent of driving tests to eventually choose the European Young truck driver of the year 2007. This year's competition is the 3rd time it has been held. Over 16,000 drivers from all over the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey took part in national finals to see who would attend the final in Sweden to have the chance of winning a brand new Scania truck. The UK attracted the highest number of entrants in the national heats with 2,640 young drivers attempting to win. That honour eventually went to William Herron (31) of WJ Herron transport - an agricultural haulier from Northern Ireland.

William, accompanied by his wife, his father (the companies founder - William Herron Snr) and a couple of representatives of Scania GB, seemed extremely calm and controlled but he admitted to CM his biggest worry was that he had never driven in Europe before. In order to ensure the fairest competition possible, Mark Agnew, driver training manager of Scania GB, managed to arrange a short familiarisation drive through the area. An event of this scale takes a huge amount of organisation. Scania provided their usual high level of efficiency. It was organised with the support of the European commission and the International Road Transport Union and was sponsored by Michelin and Shell. The whole ethos of the competition was about road safety, inspiring professionalism and promoting a higher public image of drivers.

It is not totally altruistic on Scania's part though. As well as the national winners Scania also brough the second and third placed drivers from each nation to Sweden. These drivers, invited to support their countries champion, also had the opportunity to see Scania's research and development centre - and give Scania an insight into the thoughts of the end users. According to Hasse Johansson, group vice president of research and development at Scania, this face to face feedback from drivers is invaluable to his team in not only identifying faults and problems that dealers may not pick up upon, but also to mould future products more closely around the driver's needs and desires in a working environment.

The competition itself has various elements. The first one William faced was the road driving element. The section was judged on defensive driving, hazard recognition and fuel economy. Despite the obvious disadvantage of having very little experience of driving on the wrong side of the road he achieved a 100% maximum score. Over the rest of day one further, tests of driving skill followed. To have any chance at all a driver had to consistently drive with precision that went far above what a driver would be expected to achieve in day to day operations. On top of the driving element, the contestants were all thoroughly examined on their ability to asses and secure a load and to identify a number of defects that could affect road safety on a vehicle.

On day two the final six contestants who would go through to the semi- finals, held that afternoon, were be announced. The UK team had high hopes for William, who had performed exceptionally throughout. The results were incredibly close and William was placed just outside the qualifying group in 7th place. He was equal on points with the 6th placed driver though missed out on a spot by the smallest fraction in the fuel economy section. Being the highest placed UK driver ever in the competition was - at the time - little consolation. However the team was delighted that Tom Sharkey of Eire, perhaps the team that the UK contingent was closest to, had made it through to the last six. From that point on the UK team threw their support behind Tom.

It seemed impossible, but from this point the competition became even tougher. The level of precision was increased and rather than being against the clock, drivers competed in pairs against each other in sudden death. Inch perfect manoeuvring, controlled speed, and high situational awareness were required. In a tense semi final Tom made it through to the final beating off a spirited challenge from the French champion. One of the aims of this competition was to raise the profile of drivers amongst the public throughout Europe. TV crews and radio stations from across Europe sent back reports from the event. Drivers in the UK were able to follow the results as they came in via the TruckNet UK website (www.TruckNetUK.com). Estimates put the number of members of the public attending event well above the 10,000 that watched in 2005. Many of the attendees had very little to do with the industry and were genuinely impressed with the skills shown by all the drivers participating. A Scania executive estimated that the event cost was somewhere in the region of €2m - an investment that those attending seemed to feel was well spent.

The final was set up in front of the grandstand. It was a course where all 3 finalists would compete at the same time, manoeuvring the trucks through a series of zig zag obstacles - first backwards, then forwards. The angles of the course arranged were only just within the turning capabilities of the trucks and trailers. Sharkey lined up against Marek Szerenos of Poland and Milan Jakubek of Slovakia. Tom had been astounded that he had even made it into the last six. He started well and looked to have a lead when Marek suddenly cleared the first corner and found the right line needed to take the second corner first time. From that point on it was clear Marek had taken the crown. Tom came in a very credible second.

The YETD is a very unique competition - there are obvious benefits to the hosts, the industry and to drivers. One driver took away his dream - the position of being the best young driver in Europe.......and a new Scania truck of course!