Matthew Connelly (middle) won the Apprentice of the Year Award at the national Awards for Excellence.

HG Wood Lift Trucks Ltd employee Matthew Connelly won the fiercely contested apprentice of the year award at the UK Fork Lift Truck Association's national awards for excellence this year.

Connelly, 22, trained alongside some other nominees for the category at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. He says he was surprised to win, considering the competition he was against. "My aims are to continue my training to the highest level possible and develop my skills to work on as many machines and industrial vehicles as I can."

Connelly says he has trained on a range of industrial vehicles at HG Wood, including rough-terrain plant equipment and four-way directional trucks, as well as counterbalanced forklifts.

HG Wood managing director David Wood says he is proud of Matthew's success at the awards. "He's very capable, picks things up extremely quickly and is a real asset to the company. I can see him moving into the electrical side of things to further his training so he really does have a bright future in the industry."

The apprentice's success comes at a time of growth for his company. Wood says: "We're very fortunate at the moment in that business is booming for us; it gives us a chance to invest in the future."

The forklift supplier has hired three more staff members and wants to put another young employee on a three-year apprenticeship course.