Pembroke Motor Services technician to compete against European Nissan specialists

Pembroke Motor Services (PMS) master technician Lewis Thomas is to compete in a European competition for Nissan after winning the UK round.

Thomas will compete at the European NISTEC 2023 competition in Paris this week to test his skills against fellow professionals from all over Europe.

He won against 11 Nisan technicians in the UK at the recent UK round, held in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Success in Paris will see a trip to Japan later in the year for the global finals.

NISTEC is a competition which operates in Nissan markets all around the world. Its aim is to recognise the skills of talented master technicians.

In Europe, each participating country has the opportunity to select one technician from its dealership network to take part in the Paris finals.

At the UK event, 12 competitors were chosen to complete practical, real-world tests after having undergone an online assessment.

More than 100 master technicians from the UK’s Nissan network were involved at that point – making Lewis’s achievement even more impressive.

Six competitors battled it out on each day of the Doncaster event.

The assessment consisted of three tasks: a maintenance task, an electrical task and a vehicle data record task. The jobs were done on Nissan Jukes and the participants had 40 minutes to complete each one.

Nick Phillips, service manager at PMS, said: ‘‘It goes without saying that all of us are hugely proud of Lewis’s achievements and delighted that he has the opportunity to go further in this year’s NISTEC competition.

“He is an incredibly valuable member of the team here and deserves to do well.’’

Lewis, who has worked at PMS for almost seven years, said he felt ”excited and extremely privileged” to be representing the UK at this year’s European NISTEC finals.

John Murphy, Nissan technical lead trainer, said: “‘With this being the first competition since 2018, it’s a big step that we can take to deliver exciting opportunities to the dealer network population, with the hope of inspiring our next, and current, generation of master technicians to enter the next competition in 2025.

‘‘I’m sure our UK winner, Lewis, will do himself, his dealership and Nissan proud in Paris.”