A Fife engineer has spoken of his complete shock at being described as the “superhero of the north” by his colleagues as he won his company’s highest engineering award
Lee Carmichael joined Openreach in 2004 as an apprentice after graduating from Glenrothes College.
He installs full fibre broadband around Fife – but excels when it comes to problem solving and encouraging other workers.
‘Oblivious’ at Openreach awards
His out-of-the-box thinking and support for colleagues saw him nominated for Openreach’s internal awards.
A delighted Lee was happy to have the opportunity of a trip to London, without thinking he could ever win a trophy.
“It was a bit of a shock when I won,” says Lee.
“It’s been getting a lot of attention from my colleagues. They like to wind me up about it – cheering and clapping when I come into work.
“I thought it was amazing to be nominated – go to London, stay the night, see the BT Tower, and go to the event.
“I was nominated for exceptional engineer and was chuffed when I won that.
“Then they came to the engineer of the year award. They gave an introduction about the winner, talking about this person working in the north – I was quite oblivious.
“Then they said they were sitting in the front row, so I started looking across for the winner. And then they said my name.”
Cash prize and new number plate
The 40-year-old, who has been with the company for 18 years, was given an Openreach van with special OR23 ENG licence plate and £500 reward.
The former Auchmuty High School and Pitteuchar West Primary School pupil said he still enjoys his work.
He said: “The good thing about this job is that, no matter how long you’ve been in the business, there’s always something new that you find out.
“I like when there’s a complex job that I’ve started and being able to see the faults cleared. There’s satisfaction to that.”
Lee’s manager Kenneth Laing praised him for his “passion and determination”.
