The annual Truckstops Awards has named its top branches and departments and the Wellington team were big winners on the night.
The event was held on Wednesday, August 7, at the TSB Showplace, New Plymouth to recognise the high achievers for the financial year. It was held as part of the 2019 Truckstops Leadership Forum.
Chris Groves and the team from Wellington took first place for the supreme Branch of the Year Award, second place for Service Department of the Year and third place for Parts Department of the Year.
Pat Rumble and his team from Truckstops Napier took second place and Murray Wilkinson and the team from Truckstops Mt Wellington took out third place for Branch of the Year.
Groves went on to win Manager of the Year with an impressive nomination by the entire Wellington branch which included a heartfelt letter and a video starring a cross section of the Wellington team.
He also took out the prestigious Truckstops Contribution Award which recognised his outstanding leadership driving the branch to much greater levels of achievement, as well as through a very difficult, tragic time – the passing of a valued technician and team member Rainey Christofferson.
There was a lot of emotion in the room as Groves came up to accept the award and reflected on the year and what the loss meant to him and his team.
Jason Maxted and the team from Truckstops Nelson took out the Service Department of the Year with Wellington coming in second and Patrick Edwards and his team from Invercargill coming in third.
Jim Hunter and his dedicated team picked up Parts Department of the Year with Napier and Mt Wellington taking joint second and Wellington third place.
Motor Truck Distributors (MTD) general manager Clive Jones introduced two new awards to recognise Truckstops branches which exhibited supreme customer service excellence provided to Volvo and Mack customers.
Nominations for the award were submitted by the MTD team. The inaugural Volvo Dianne Whyman Customer Service Excellence Award went to Pat Rumble and the team at Truckstops Napier. The inaugural Mack Murray Sowerby Excellence Award went to Jason Dwayne and the team at Truckstops Hamilton.
Another first for the event saw proceedings live streamed across the entire Truckstops network, allowing those not able to attend the event to be part of it, and winners at a distance to have the opportunity to say a few words.
Other outstanding achievements included Nicholas Rennie-Hynes from Truckstops Christchurch Volvo winning Apprentice of the Year, Steve Hawkins from Truckstops Whangarei winning Innovator of the Year and Mitchell Holm from Truckstops Palmerston North winning Health and Safety Champion.
