Christopher Teale, 34, a heating and plumbing engineer from Barnet, has made it to the final of this year's UK Worker of the Year competition.

He impressed the judges during the final judging day on 26 September, competing against six others in the hope to win the prestigious title.

Mr Teale, who is on call 24 hours a day, prides himself on high quality work that is both reliable and affordable. The Barnet-based engineer has spent the last two years growing his heating and plumbing business, working long hours and weekends to ensure his business is successful. He named the company HIT GAS, which stands for honesty, integrity and trust.

Mr Teale, who holds a Masters Plumbing certificate, ISO 9001 certification, and is a member of approved contractor scheme TrustMark, now has over 1,000 clients due to the dedication and hard work he has shown to his profession and customers.

“It’s an absolute honour to have made it this far in the UK Worker of the Year competition,” said Mr Teale. “I’m delighted that there is a competition out there that recognises and rewards hard workers in the UK. Winning the competition would be a dream come true and it would allow me the opportunity to repay my family for all their hard work in supporting me.”

Maurice Morton, sales and marketing director at Dickies said: “This year was definitely the most competitive judging day. In the past, the judges have sat down afterwards and come to an easy decision on the winner. All the finalists presented themselves brilliantly, which is a huge credit to them.”

The winner of the UK Worker of the Year 2014 will be announced on 18 October, and will be awarded with the choice between a Suzuki S-Cross car, V-Strom 1000 motorcycle or an ATV Quad bike. They will also have the chance of securing an additional £100K in cash by predicting the outcome of one of the final races over the British Superbike finale weekend!