We are delighted to announce that Emily Yates is the winner of the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA) Young Person of the Year Award, the award which was launched this year recognises the achievements of rising stars in the industry.
Ken Cronin, UKIFDA Chief Executive explains:
“We are so impressed by all Emily has achieved at such a young age, that we felt she deserved recognition for her success and be awarded with the Young Person of the Year Award,”
Launched during the run up to UKIFDA EXPO 2021 this award will now be presented annually to a young person in the liquid fuels distribution industry who UKIFDA believes has gone above and beyond the call of duty and is becoming a rising star in the industry.
Ken Cronin adds: “Emily was nominated by her managers and, after reading about her background and achievements, we felt she definitely deserves recognition – especially because as an industry we promote diversity and welcome individuals from every walk of life, and Emily is currently championing diversity in the industry.”
Emily Yates, aged 24 started at Craggs Energy in 2015 as a sales apprentice, since then Emily has had several roles from customer service to agricultural sales and now she is thriving in her most recent operations role.
Richard Wallace, Managing Director at Craggs Energy comments,
“We are so proud of Emily; of all she has achieved and all she does on a daily basis to make a difference to people’s lives. For almost 4 years now, Emily has been making emergency and out-of-hours fuel deliveries to agricultural, commercial and domestic customers across Lancashire and Yorkshire.
She is happy to go out late at night, in extreme weather, and travel to hard-to-reach areas, such as remote Covid testing sites, to ensure places have the fuel needed to serve their local communities. She takes great care of people too, always ensuring our vulnerable customers have a full tank of heating oil and that their heating system is working well.
Her approach is always flexible and she will happily drive a range of vehicles to make the deliveries. She is keen to get her HGV and ADR licence – and we are eager to support her with this as she becomes a fully-fledged tanker driver.”
As winner of the Young Person of the Year Award, Emily was presented with her award at UKIFDA EXPO 2021 on July 7th.
Emily comments:
“I’m over the moon to have won the Young Person of the Year Award! I love my job and it’s great to know that what I do is appreciated and is helping people.
“When I saw the apprenticeship for Craggs Energy advertised in 2015, I was working in the childcare sector and was looking for a new challenge – being a sales apprentice within the fuel distribution industry certainly challenged me and boosted my confidence too.
“From day one, my managers have been so supportive and I settled at Craggs really quickly. In a previously male-dominated industry, I’ve had nothing but support and encouragement from my colleagues and bosses, including from our CEO Chris Bingham who was so happy when I went to him originally with the idea of making fuel deliveries. Together with other managers, he helped to make it happen and I’ve never looked back.
“I’m excited for the future and cannot wait to get started with studying for my HGV licence and making deliveries on tankers as well as on 4x4s.
“There is no reason women can’t join the operations side of this industry and make deliveries – and I hope that soon more women will join the sector.”
