JCB Group's Sittingbourne Van Centre has been hailed the best of the UK Volkswagen Van Centre network at the brand's annual awards ceremony.

In a live virtual ceremony, former England and Yorkshire cricketer Darren Gough revealed the leading businesses within the network of 63 dealerships and 33 authorised repairers which shared nine awards in total.

Cian O’Brien, director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: “It’s been another extraordinary year, and the collective performance of everyone in the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles network has been amazing.

“Remaining dedicated to the cause in these circumstances is hard. It demands resilience and creativity. Fortunately, these are the cornerstones of the people and businesses in our network, and it’s for this reason we now celebrate all their commitment and achievements in 2021.”

Six category awards were given by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK to recognise performance across a number of key areas, from new and used sales performance to customer experience.

There were also three top performing Van Centre accolades awarded to the best overall performers, measured against a range of criteria.

In the Overall Top Performer Awards for 2021, the Gold Award winner was JCB Sittingbourne Van Centre.

Silver Award winner was Volkswagen Van Centre, Liverpool (part of Swansway Garages)

Bronze Award went to JCT600 Volkswagen Van Centre, York

The new sales award went to Eurovans, Crawley, and the used sales award went to JCT600 Volkswagen Van Centre, York.

A most improved award was won by Heritage Volkswagen Van Centre, Bristol, and the customer experience award went to Volkswagen Van Centre, Liverpool (Swansway).

An award for service and parts was won by Breeze Van Centre, Portsmouth, and the Authorised Repairer award went to Ingram Van Service, Ayr.

During the event two aftersales managers - Chris Playfoot, at JCT600 in Hull, and David Crane, at Heritage Volkswagen Van Service Centre in Dorchester, were awarded prestigious gold pins, which are the brand’s highest individual honour and are only presented to members of staff who demonstrate exceptional, and often long-standing, service to the brand.

The previous year it was JCT600's dealership in Hull which scooped the Gold Award.