ACTOR Ricky Tomlinson is on hand here to congratulate British Gas's national service engineer of the year, Hampshire's Ian Cottrell.
Father of one Ian, 29, who works the Basingstoke patch, beat 5,000 other engineers to scoop the award.
Royle Family star Ricky plays the lead character, Ken Taylor, in British Gas's Doing the Right Thing TV and billboard adverts.
Services manager Trevor Percy said: "Ian is very customer- focused and is an employee who instinctively does the right thing for our customers.
"Customers love his cheery but professional and courteous
manner and have commented that he's a pleasure to have in their homes."
Ian, from Basingstoke, joined the utility company as an apprentice 14 years ago.
He said: "It's getting out and meeting different people and sorting people's problems that makes the job interesting."
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