I am thrilled to be the 2008 recipient of the Meguiar's UK Car Enthusiast of the Year, an honour which not only acknowledges my own work for Classics on the Common‚ but also celebrates the entire thriving car enthusiast movement across the UK

Peter Madden was presented with the 2008 Meguiar's Award for the UK Car Enthusiast of the Year‚ at a gala dinner held at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. The ceremony was hosted by Steve King, Managing Director of Meguiar's UK, and attended by 135 high profile members of the motoring fraternity, the event was compered by Tiff Needell.

This is the fifth time the UK Meguiar‚s Award has been presented and is based on the company's successful American Award scheme launched 14 years ago. It is designed to honour the person who is felt to have made the most significant contribution to the growth, visibility and quality of the car enthusiast movement in all its varied forms.

A panel of ten highly respected automotive journalists, chaired by Octane's editor Robert Coucher, met for a day to review the nominations and select the recipient. There were 13 worthy nominees yet, after due deliberation, the selection committee were unanimous in their choice of Peter Madden.

Peter Madden, a serving police officer, has been the driving force behind Classics on the Common‚ an event which he created in 1994 alongside friend and fellow car enthusiast John Tibble. The format of the event is simple – there are no classes or judges; no club or age areas; cars are simply parked up in the order that they arrive.

What began as an impromptu pub meet‚ has grown and the event now attracts over 1400 cars and 10,000 spectators from across the UK and Europe. Peter is also a proud owner of a 1968 Rover P5B Coupe and is a longstanding committee member of the Rover P5 Club.

On accepting the award, Peter said, 'I am thrilled to be the 2008 recipient of the Meguiar's UK Car Enthusiast of the Year, an honour which not only acknowledges my own work for Classics on the Common‚ but also celebrates the entire thriving car enthusiast movement across the UK.'

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