Exeter dad nominated as ‘delivery hero’ at prestigious awards ceremony

An Exeter gas engineer has been nominated for an individual prize at the annual Retail Week Awards.

Ryan McBride, who works for online electrical retailer AO, was shortlisted in the ‘Delivery Hero of the Year’ category, alongside five other logistics workers from around the UK. 

Ryan, who is dad to a one-year-old boy, was nominated for his dedication to customer service last Christmas, when he came in on days off to cover illness and make sure that customers had their appliances in time for Christmas Day. 

After becoming a self-employed driver with AO in May 2020, Ryan completed the company’s in-house electric training course and became an employee, before earning a place on AO’s gas apprenticeship scheme in July 2022. 

Since then, he has been rated as ‘amazing’ by 96% of his customers and received zero complaints. 

Ryan said: “I’m delighted to be nominated for this award. In the past four-and-a-half years, I’ve really enjoyed progressing from a delivery driver to an installations engineer and our customers are always at the forefront of everything I do.”

Ryan’s manager Steve Forster added: "Ryan is an extremely valued member of the team. Not only is he a top performer in his outbase, he’s also a genuinely nice guy. This nomination is richly deserved."

Ryan’s nomination is one of four awards that AO has been shortlisted for at the Retail Week Awards, along with ‘Best Retailer Over £250m’, ‘Green Initiative of the Year’ and ‘Head Office Heroes’. 

The winners will be revealed on 20th March 2025.