A former petrol pump designer has scooped an oil and gas industry apprentice of the year award at the age of 33.
The accolade is from international skills body Opito and has gone to Gavin Brown, who is in his second year of offshore training in instrumentation and control maintenance with North Sea operator Taqa.
He saw off around 1,500 rivals to win a place on the UK industry’s Oil and Gas Technical Apprentice Programme. Mr Brown said he saw a long-term future for himself in the sector and described his award as “a great honour”.
He added: “Going to an office and sitting behind a computer wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted, and I found the oil and gas industry appealing.
“Initially I thought I might be too old for an apprenticeship, but then saw others my age – and even older – successfully pave the way.”
Judges included Kevin Nicolson, of Opito, Claire Lawrie, of Ithaca Energy, and Jim Ritchie, of Skills Development Scotland.
Opito chief executive John McDonald said choosing a winner was a “challenging decision” for the panel due to the “extremely high calibre” of all four finalists.
