It was a pleasure for HGV driver Simon Freeman to receive a traffic ticket from North Yorkshire Police.

Chief Inspector David Short was presenting Simon with a far less punitive certificate - his award as North East Tanker Driver of the Year.

Simon, 32, from Ulleskelf, near Tadcaster, was one of 150 Coldstream tanker drivers nominated by farmer members of the Express Milk Partnership in Skipton in a competition to reward the specialist drivers, who collect fresh milk from farms in all weather, 365 days of the year.

A trained mechanic, Simon has responsibility for bulk farm collections as depot supervisor looking after 15 drivers and 10 milk tankers, from 10,000-litre four-wheel vehicles to massive 24,000-litre articulated lorries.

As part of his daily duties, Simon also drives one of the tankers and collects around 6,000 litres of milk from farms across Yorkshire, his contribution to his team's 150,000 litre collection across Yorkshire and Derbyshire, from Northallerton in the north to Chesterfield in the south.

Simon says: "We are a vital link in ensuring the quality milk our farmers produce gets to market as fresh and clean as possible every day of the year.

"Most farms don't have much more than a day's milk storage capacity and cows just can't stop producing the stuff, so if we don't get out on any day it's a huge problem."

This made the job a particularly great challenge when lanes were covered in ice and full of snow, especially when his vehicles were out before the early morning council gritters got to work.

"Getting though under these circumstances is all about teamwork and the relationships we have with our farmers."

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