UK Plant Operator of the Year 2024: The Results

The 2024 final of UK Plant Operator took place at the CITB National Construction College on Saturday Sept 21st. With a record number of entrants, the 60 finalists were asked to select five challenges from an available eleven.  At the same time the challenge to find the Tower Crane Operator of the Year also took place. 

The standard of the finalists was extremely high, to ensure fairness and consistency a judging team of 24 was assembled. 12 from the instructor teams at the CITB and 12 from the leading national hirers training academies, such as Flannery, Lynch and Collins. 

Each challenge winner qualified for the grand final, where over two different challenges, the finalists were scored to determine the overall winner. 

Champion Plant Operator of 2024: James Penman 

Runner Up: Bryan Williamson

Third Place: James Covell                                                                             

Trench Box Transfer

1	James	Covell	3.29
2	James	Herring	5.07
3	James	Penman	5.19
4	William	Frame	5.35
5	James	Duxbury	5.41
6	Mark	Jarman	5.47
10	Martin	Smith	5.57
7	Stevie	Milne	6.00
8	Ryan	Bagley	6.36
9	Maciej	Grzyb	7.20

Backhoe Precision Showdown

1	Mark	Jarman	3.44
2	James	Penman	3.54
3	Phil	Mclintic	4.28
4	Dan	Eastwood	4.32
5	Martin	Smith	4.33
6	Mark	Firth	4.37
7	Louie	Coram	4.40
8	Lewis	Cameron	5.02
9	Greg	Leyland	5.08
10	James	Covell	5.09

The Straight and Narrow

1	Driton	Krivenjeva	4.00
1	James	Penman	4.00
1	James	Covell	4.00
4	Mark	Firth	4.10
4	James	Herring	4.10
4	Nick	Roberts	4.10
4	Mark	Jarman	4.10
4	Harry	Miles	4.10
9	Andrew	Walker	4.20
9	Charlie	Gold	4.20
9	Victor	Stanciu	4.20
9	Linas	Petrauskas	4.20
9	Grant	Podmore	4.20
9	Greg	Leyland	4.20
15	Craig	Johnson	4.30
16	Dawid	Czub	4.30
17	Tom	Whiting	4.30
18	Ervin	Horvat	4.30
19	Neil	Grainger	4.30
20	Maciej	Grzyb	4.30

Grapple Grab

1	Lewis	Cameron	1.34
2	Linas	Petrauskas	1.46
3	Jamie	Currie	1.47
4	James	Covell	1.47
5	Charlie	Gold	1.50
6	Tom	Whiting	1.58
7	James	Duxbury	1.59
8	Ervin	Horvat	1.59
9	Maciej	Grzyb	1.59
10	Ben	Wade	1.68
11	Martin	Smith	2.06
12	Kieron	Gligorijevic	2.06
13	Shaun	Richmond	2.08
14	Mark	Jarman	2.18
15	Liam	Hills	2.19
16	Craig	Johnson	2.21
17	Ryan	Bagley	2.21
18	Will	Goldstone	2.24
19	Daniel	Grantham	2.25
20	Bryan	Williamson	2.25

Tipping Point

1	Bryan	Williamson	3.02
2	Phil	McLinitic	3.13
3	Charlie	Gold	3.29
4	Robbie	Allander	3.31
5	Dan	Eastwood	3.37
6	Neil	Grainger	3.39
7	Kieron	Gligorijevic	3.40
8	Tom	Whiting	3.45
9	Peter	Gawthorpe	3.47
10	Billy	Ray	3.50

Skip Tip

1	James	Covell	1.41
2	james	Herring	1.57
3	Mark	Jarman	2.02
4	Mark	Firth	2.05
5	James	Snaith	2.10
6	Lewis	Cameron	2.15
7	James	Penman	2.17
8	Maciej	Grzyb	2.17
9	Shaun	Richmond	2.17
10	Andrew	Walker	2.18
11	Billy	Ray	2.24
12	Liam	Hills	2.26
13	Victor	Stanic	2.26
14	William	Frame	2.26
15	Martin	Smith	2.29
16	James	Duxbury	2.33
17	Craig	Johnson	2.34
18	Mark	Palmer Broughton	2.34
19	Tom	Whiting	2.37
20	Ervin	Horvat	2.38

Make the Grade

1	Andrew	Walker	5.31
2	Jacob	Hawkins	6.06
3	James	Duxbury	6.30
4	Luke	Wilkinson	6.32
5	Kieron	Gligorijevic	6.45
6	Lewis	Cameron	6.50
7	Harry	Miles	7.03
8	William	Frame	7.21
9	Shaun	Richmond	7.28
10	James	Herring	7.30

Reverse Engineering

1	Craig	Johnson	2.53
2	Aaron	Podmore	3.02
3	Billy	Ray	3.08
4	Ben	Wade	3.18
5	Jamie	Currie	3.20
6	Phil	Mclintic	3.34
7	Lewis	Cameron	3.47
8	James	Mansfield	3.50
9	Charlie	Gold	3.52
10	Gemma	Barber	4.32

The Big Push

1	Shaun	Richmond	14.50
2	Dawid	Czub	15.17
3	Liam	Hills	15.45
4	Neil	Coram	16.00
5	Jason	Snaith	16.00

Lock N Load

1	Dan	Eastwood	2.25
2	Bryan	Williamson	2.32
3	Lewis	Cameron	3.06
4	Gemma	Barber	3.10
5	Stevie	Milne	3.10
6	Charlie	Gold	3.11
7	Nicholas	Roberts	3.37
8	James	Penman	3.49
9	Grant	Podmore	4.03
10	Liam	Hills	4.04

Pipe Down on the Sim

1	James	Covell	11.14
2	James	Herring	11.30
3	Billy	Ray	11.53
4	Tom	Whiting	13.29
5	Andrew	Walker	13.36

1	Steve	Scott	7.38
2	Tom	Allen	7.39
3	Jason	Dye	7.48
4	Martin	McElduff	7.58
5	Dan	Anghel	10.10