The votes have been counted, the trophies have been presented and at last we know the winners of the most sought-after awards in the UK tyre and related industries for 2008 – the NTDA Tyre and Fast Fit (TAFF) Awards.

The reason for the Awards' popularity is that the finalists are nominated by their customers – NTDA members are asked for nominations and they are free to put forward the name of any company, with the top five in each of six categories going forward to the voting process.

This means that the companies that reach the final stage have managed to do so because their customers believe that they offer the very best; be it the best product, or the best service, these finalists made it because of the way they have looked after their customers.

Having compiled a shortlist, it is time to choose the winner. Votes are cast on the official forms, which are widely distributed – some are circulated by the NTDA Head Office at Aylesbury, a further 6,000+ are included in the NTDA's Annual UK Tyre Industry Directory (which also includes thumbnail sketches of the finalists), plus the form appears in three issues of Tyres & Accessories magazine, reaching an audience of around 20,000.

So congratulations to the six winners, whose identities were revealed at the NTDA's Annual Dinner on 16th April, but congratulations too to those who were also nominated – you can all feel proud to have made it to the final shortlist.