TWO Hereford pipe-fitters will be heading for the sun after winning a national competition.

Chris Tyler and Steve Crowe, from Efficient Energy Centre in Harrow Road were named Pipe Fitters of the Year after success in a Pipe Center competition in Gloucester.

Chris, who is 28 and the company's site manager, and 27-year-old Steve, a senior installer, had the support of several colleagues at the event as they won through the regional competition before beating off the challenge of the winners of five other regional heats.

In the regional competition, they managed to win despite a hold-up from a broken piece of equipment.

In the final, they had to create a pipe centre out of different materials of pipes using different joint techniques. They were also judged on preparation, efficiency and team-work as well as on the quality of their work with time-penalties handed out if something was not done correctly or to a sufficient standard.

And their skills carried them through to win by a substantial margin as each carried off £500 in holiday vouchers and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.

Director Alun Matthews who recruited the pair when they were both 16 and trained them as his apprentices was delighted with the success.

"We are very proud of our employees and the skill, team work and efficiency they demonstrated was second to none," he said. "As a company we are very big on training and presentation of our work and it is great to see it paying off.

"It is a big boost for our whole team, motivating us all to keep up the high standards."