Belinda sweeps Honda apprentice award

NEW South Wales automotive service technician Belinda Broom has become the first woman to win Honda Australia’s Service Technician Apprentice of the Year award.

A third-year apprentice at Armidale dealership Hardman Honda in country NSW, Ms Broom received her trophy in a ceremony at a dinner in Thailand, alongside 2012 Honda Technician of the Year Matthew Gwynne from Queensland dealership Blue Ribbon Honda, of Ipswich.

Ms Broom, who started with Hardman Honda in August 2010, studies at the TAFE campus of New England Institute in Armidale, with additional training at Honda’s own courses in Sydney.

Hardman Honda service manager David Crosby said her work colleagues were all proud of her achievement.

“It was a lot of hard work for her, but she came through,” he said.

The national competition is open to all registered Honda apprentices and technicians, with competitors having to complete three rounds of technical questions, answered via research on the online Honda Learning Centre.

Finalists complete five module exams – one general knowledge and four skill modules – each worth 100 marks.

At the completion of this year’s final, the top technicians and apprentices joined Australia’s leading Honda service managers in Thailand for a seven-day study tour that included visits to Honda’s manufacturing plant at Ayutthaya and a major dealership in the heart of Bangkok.

Presenting the awards, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said Honda was impressed with the calibre of this year’s entrants, who he described as “the industry’s most skilled professionals”.

Also at Thailand’s Royal Cliff Resort for the awards dinner were runner-up technician Jarrad Davis (Dave Potter Honda, SA) and runner-up apprentice Daniel Ivanov (Northside Honda, Qld).