OCADOLIFE 11 - July 2009

Our first ‘Driver of the Year’ awards took place last week and was a roaring success, with our 20 finalists competing in an action-packed Finals Day at Rockingham race circuit.

As I travelled up to Northamptonshire to congratulate our CSTMs for their safe driving over the year, it struck me that the main event of the day would be watching them zoom around a race-track in Formula 3 cars. Let’s just say the irony wasn’t lost on me!

The big day was hugely exciting. We put our finalists through their paces in a series of tests, including an LGV manoeuvring course, a driving test in a single-seater Formula Ford racing car, and a rally and wet-grip skid-control driving session in an Ocado van.

Our eagle-eyed panel of judges awarded points for each test, with the four highest-scoring drivers making it onto the podium. Our winner, Craig, drove away with £1,000 worth of Thomas Cook vouchers; while runner-up Jonathan won a Mercedes-Benz driving experience and an Ascot picnic set; third-placed Mike got a set of four Avon tyres from ATS and a personal DVD player, and fourth-placed Helen got a £25 Ocado voucher and two bottles of wine.

A huge “thank you” to all the sponsors who helped to fund the event and the prizes; in particular, our good friends at Mercedes-Benz, suppliers of our ever-reliable fleet of delivery vans. Without their involvement and enormous generosity, the event would never have left the starting grid.

And, of course, a big “well done” to all our finalists for making the day such a success, and for demonstrating their commitment to safe driving. Don’t worry guys, we’re already planning ways to make the event even bigger and better in 2010!

Jason,

Ocado Co-Founder