Winner of Turkish national final announced Five national rounds have been held in Turkey during the summer, and 58 drivers competed in the cities Samsun, Konya, Adana, Izmir or Istanbul. From the beginning, totally 2 000 applicants wanted to participate in the Turkish competition. Read more

Road safety minded Danish winner Danish winner Kenneth Mathiasen, 26, finished fourth in the 2003 national final, but this year he proved to be the best when the final took place in Jutland in June. With the exciting “Lastbilshow 2005” as the setting, thirteen Danish guys all made good scores on the tracks. The competition was close and top three winners came out after a long and tough day. “I believe it is very important to always think safety first,” says Kenneth Mathiasen, father of a nine-month-old baby, being more conscious and aware of road safety issues than ever before. He works close to home, driving a construction truck. “I appreciate not being on the road all the time, as I enjoy spending time with family,” says Kenneth Mathiasen, who works as a truck driver since seven years.

Hard-fought UK final with Lee coming out on top In a hard-fought competition between Britain's top 13 young heavy-truck drivers, Lee Graves of Hull emerged as the winner of the UK national final. Lee, a driver for Hull-based Edwards Logistics Limited, fended off the challenges of his two nearest rivals. “It's fantastic, I just can't believe it – I thought I'd done OK in the competition, but I never actually expected to win!” was Lee's immediate reaction to his success. Read more

100 percent Scania driver became Spanish finalist Koldo Aranburu became the best young Spanish truck driver and will be representing Spain in the European final. Mr. Aranburu was born in Guipuzcoa 30 years ago and works for the Logisberia Transport Company. His daily work consists of transporting Scania trucks from the Angers and Zwolle factories to Spain. During the national final he has demonstrated his skills on trucks manoeuvring, road safety and economy driving. “The final was really a successful event. It was visited by very important authorities from different governmental departments involved in transport activities from different points of view, as well as representatives from the national transport associations, competitors and media. Altogether more than 250 people,” says Daniel Gonzales of Scania Hispania.

The best Italian driver 2005 is selected Last weekend the Italian final of Scania’s driver competition Young European Truck Driver 2005 was held. Between heavy rain showers the ten finalists competed against each other in fuel efficient driving and concentration-demanding manoeuvring while the stopwatch was running. Read more

Mats is best in Sweden – now he aims at the European final Mats Johansson from Umeå, was the winner of the very close Swedish competition on 18 June. At work Mats drives a wrecking truck for UmeAssistance, and he is sure that this helped him a lot, especially in the precision drive. Read more

Swiss final a success  The swiss YETD-final attracted hundreds of spectators and the happy winner was 34 year-old Daniel Stadelmann from Brislach. At Scania Switzerland's website you can read more about the event and take part of photos from the day.

First drivers ready for the European final The first national winners to qualify for the European YETD final have now been appointed. The two are Paulius Buzinskas from Lithuania and Janez Volovlek from Slovenia. Paulius Buzinskas (left) won the Lithuanian final in Domeikava, Kaunas on 15 May. Eight participants qualified for the final based on the results of the theoretical test. Janez Volvlek, aged 33 (right), became the Slovenian national winner of YETD. “Right before we announced the winner, Janez said he would walk 80 km back home if he won,” says Tatjana Kuhelj, Slovenian YETD coordinator. “He never did, though…” But Tatjana got an instant invitation to Janez’ birthday party this weekend, and we all congratulate Janez and Paulius and wish them good luck in the European final.

Regional rounds in Germany concluded The qualifying rounds in Germany were finalised at the safety driving centre at Nürburging the other week. 80 young drivers out of 1,807 had qualified for the regional rounds and the 12 best will now meet in the German Final on 13 August. Among these, there is also the first woman to qualify in Germany. Read more

Norwegian midnight sun on young drivers  The Norwegian YETD road show has created great interest along the way. The truck, with skilled journalist Arild W behind the wheels has crisscrossed all over the country. Last week venturing into the extreme North, Tromsø was the venue. Ten young drivers out of a total of 200 came to the dealer in Tromsø, doing the manoeuvring and economy driving test required after taking the theory test. “We met some great representatives of Norwegian young drivers along the way. Road safety is so natural for them,” says Arild W.

Scania road show in 30 Greek cities Starting two months ago, the Greek road show has almost crossed the whole country. Altogether five road shows have so far toured 21 major cities from south to north, including Crete. The participants are increasing as the show is crossing the country. The number of applicants is close to 250 and the application time expires on 29 May. Read more

Highly skilled Frenchmen A few weeks ago, France had the first regional round in Scania's big competition Young European Truck Driver 2005. In Cahors, in the south of France, the first out of two regional rounds was concluded. During two days, 60 participants passed the tests for gaining a maximum of points in order to get to the French final during 18-19 June. Among them, four participated in the competition already in 2003. "We are very impressed with the high skill of the participants, but also their interest in all matters related to road safety", says Gilles Baustert, Head of Marketing and Communications at Scania France.

150 Latvian candidates In Latvia, the competition is organised in cooperation with the Road Safety Directorate (RFSD). More than 150 candidates from the whole country have applied for stage one in the competition. Most of the candidates are from the Riga area.  The winners of stage one were announced on 16 May. They will pass an individual driving test by applying to the organisers in advance. The finalists will perform the manoeuvring test on 18 June.      Moreover, the organisers of the competition are planning to arrange a Truck carnival. All truck owners and drivers will be invited to participate and present decorated trucks.

Portugal on the runway In February, Portugal launched Young European Truck Driver with a press conference in Lisbon. The event brought together a high-level panel of speakers, more than 40 press representatives as well as other stakeholders. Read more

Successful kick-off in Madrid On 24 February, Spain launched Young European Truck Driver with an extraordinary kick-off at the INTA (National Institute of Aerospace Technology) premises in Madrid. The event brought together a highlevel panel of speakers and more than 120 industry and union representatives and other stakeholders joined the event. Read more

German kick-off 15 journalists as well as representatives from the sponsors and the winner of YETD 2003, Björn Luginsland, attended when Germany kicked-off YETD 2005 at Fahrsicherheitszentrum, Nürburgring. The German YETD event has the patronage of the ministry of Rhineland Palatinate, headed by the transport minister Hans-Artur Bauckhage. His state secretary Günter Eymael was representing the minister with a statement at the press conference. Mr Eymael is also seen in the picture with German MD Johan P Schlyter. Vice President Corporate Relations Eric Österberg also attended, presenting the focus of YETD, challenging the Germans to attract the largest number of applicants this time.

Echo in media after Hungarian press lunch On Tuesday 22 February, YETD was launched in Hungary with significant media interest. 25 journalists were present when Scania Hungary MD Thomas Bertilsson and Deputy State secretary, Ministry of Economy and Transportation, Mr Ferenc Kovács positioned Scania as the industry reference in road safety. An IRU representative and the secretary of National Accidentprevention committee were also present. Many questions on the YETD event were raised among the journalists, representing trade press, daily papers, newswires and radio stations. Several interviews on the radio were broadcasted after the press event. In one of the broadcastings, Scania and YETD had 17 minutes on air.