Phoenix Plant Engineers in Burnley enjoys double celebration after triumphing in the Northern Enterprise Awards

Phoenix Plant Engineers in Smallshaw Industrial Estate has been named Best Plant Machinery Sales & Maintenance Firm in the North West in this year's Northern Enterprise Awards.

The company is also celebrating the importance of apprenticeships after taking on two youths, Beatrice Kay and Danyal Mahmood, who are from groups that don't traditionally pursue career paths in the engineering industry.

Managing director Steve Cooke said: "When we were told we had won the award, it was a nice surprise and there were smiles on our faces as it means a lot to us. The best thing about the award is that anonymous customers took the time to nominate us. We still don't know to this day who did it. It's a nice thing to happen and was out of the blue."

Steve hopes to build on the business' success by encouraging young people from minority groups to come into the industry.

"It's been brilliant to have people who want to work with us who you wouldn't naturally think would. It's a rare trade now, male-dominated, and it's hard to get people into it. But engineering is an important thing, society needs to fix and build things, so we want to encourage people to come into it.”

Beatrice (17) and Danyal (19) who is British Pakistani, have joined the firm as apprentices.

"Beatrice has a car that's pink inside and it will be covered in oil and grease after a day's work but she loves it. A lot of what we do is problem-solving and creating solutions, not heavy lifting. Women can do it just as well as men. It's a good trade to get into. You're constantly on your toes and you have a good work-life balance.

"Danyal was working in a call centre and hated it. He was talking to us and asking what we do and said he'd always wanted to do something like this, then applied for the apprenticeship within a day. He has pushed and pushed to learn and gets stuck in. He's an asset.

"They will both make excellent engineers. It's very inspiring."