I have been ask to post this reply to Mike's post on behalf of Crystal Communications

"My name is Nicola St Clair - I am the project manager of the Top Technician competition.

To close this debate, Michael Whitworth’s post hits the nail on the head

Each year, we turn away a number of entrants to Top Technician as they are lecturers or trainers in addition to being working technicians. We have taken a very black and white stance on this as we cannot afford to have anyone competing who has an unfair advantage. Like all other competitions, we also cannot have employees of sponsors taking part, as a major conflict of interest occurs.

It is unfortunate that an experienced and knowledgeable technician such as Mark cannot take part but, in fairness, this applies to any other full or part time trainer, many of which, I am sure, have built their expertise through time served in a workshop, be it independent, franchised or fleet.

One other point, yes we have contacted the technician in 13th position, which we feel in the circumstances is only fair."

Nicola St Clair

Crystal Communications