A dyslexic dad-to-be who kept Ayrshire residents connected in the wake of Storm Arwen last year has been named Openreach’s Engineer of the Year 2022.
Engineer Luke Picken, from Maybole, worked around the clock to restore services to those who lost their broadband due to damage in the devastating storm in November.
The 29-year-old pinpointed and repaired dozens of faults across South West Scotland, and beat off stiff competition from 160 UK finalists in the Openreach Shining Stars Awards 2022 to bag the top prize.
And the expectant father, who is awaiting the arrival of his first child with wife Emma – also an Openreach network engineer – has picked up his distinctive prize in Ayr - a brand new van with the personalised number plate OR22 ENG.
Luke said: “It was brilliant to be shortlisted but I didn’t think I stood any chance of winning.
“When the overall winner’s details were being revealed, I was thinking ‘surely this person they’re talking about can’t be me?’
“I’m very humbled that the company and my colleagues thought I deserved an award of such magnitude.
“I don’t see what I do as special. I just come to work and do the best I can for our customers and our team.
”With many people still working from home, the internet is essential. It makes life really tough when people can’t connect and I just wanted to get them back online as fast as I could.”
Luke’s recognition is all the more special due to his struggles with dyslexia, a subject the specialist fibre engineer has spoken little about in the past.
He added: “I’ve always struggled with reading and writing, especially when I was younger, and I worried it would close doors to me.
“I hope my story shows other people with dyslexia that it doesn’t have to hold you back- you can get on despite it and achieve great things.”
Luke’s patch manager Alastair Gilroy hailed him “an absolute superstar”.
Alastair said: “He worked tirelessly to sort out dozens of broadband faults after Storm Arwen battered the west of Scotland. The damage to our fibre network was unprecedented.
“Luke tracked down every fault location then co-ordinated our response to reconnect customers, often working into the night to find and fix an issue lurking somewhere in the network.
“His hard work and determination inspired his colleagues to pull out all the stops.
“That’s just one of the ways he’s an exceptional engineer.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
