During the first Covid-19 lockdown while the schools were closed, Andover based company Dawes Highway Safety LTD ran a national competition to inspire children across the UK to design their very own lorry side safety panel known as a PeoplePanel®.
With the kind permission of Saint-Gobain and Jewson the company have now made the competition winner’s design a reality and this has been fitted to a real lorry driving round her local area in Newcastle, a second vehicle based in Andover is due to be fitted with the same design in the near future so be sure to keep an eye out for it on local roads.
This good news story demonstrates the far-reaching effect that North-Hampshire businesses have and how a little imagination can have a positive impact on children’s well-being. Managing Director James Dawes said: “Being an Andover based family business we quickly recognised how children stuck at home were being disadvantaged. We used our commercial fleet contacts to put together a competition to get young people involved in road safety and give them hope for the future.
“We had hundreds of entries, but we felt the winner’s design had really embraced the wider road safety message. We are grateful to Jewson for their assistance as we made the project a reality for this very clever little girl”.
During the pandemic itself Dawes Highway safety produced government lorry signage which was used across the country from which the company donated 100% of its profit to the NHS.
Dawes Highway Safety based in Andover has grown significantly since it was founded in 2015 by James Dawes who is a former Metropolitan Police Sergeant from London’s Road Policing Unit and and Former fleet director of the AA Paul Holmes. The company’s customers range from small fleets right up to national contracts with well-known names like Tarmac, Network Rail, Aggregate Industries and Balfour Beatty.
