A 23-year-old from York is flying high thanks to the support of a local businessman.

Tom Pavis is a junior pilot from Poppleton, and is celebrating success in local and national competitions after being sponsored by McDonald’s franchisee John Atherton.

As a result of the sponsorship, Tom recently flew in the Junior Nationals Championship where he came second out of 44 pilots.

The former York College student was also the only pilot in the competition to finish each task set, which meant not landing out of field.

John, who owns and operates six McDonald’s restaurants in the city, also sponsored Tom to enter the Husband Bosworth competition in Leicestershire, where he came 10th.

John said: “I was thrilled to be able to help Tom progress further in competing. It’s important that people are able to pursue their passions and I’m very proud of Tom’s achievements in the past and looking forward to seeing what he achieves this year.”

Tom, who does building maintenance in all the York McDonald’s restaurants, said: “I’m so grateful of the support from John and the team at the restaurant to help me participate in gliding competitions. It’s been great fun and looking forward to having some great weather to enable us to have some great soaring days to complete the tasks set.”

John joined McDonald’s after graduating from university more than 30 years ago, and went on to become managing director of McDonald’s in two countries and chief operating officer of the UK chain. He gave up corporate life to return to his native Yorkshire about five years ago when he acquired the restaurant franchise in York.