Lafarge quarryman in Euro Screw title bid

QUARRY plant fitter Craig Boulton is off to sunny Spain next month to compete for the coveted title of Europe’s best screwer. 



Mr Boulton, who works at Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK’s Dowlow Quarry, in Derbyshire, will put his screwing skills to the test in Valencia during the MotoGP finals. 



If he is the quickest to fix five screws into a piece of wood using a cordless drill he will take the European crown and win a £10,000 Yamaha RI motorbike. 


Mr Boulton explained how the tool-making company DeWalt had a stand at the Hillhead 2010 show and were running a competition to win a cordless drill.

‘You had to screw five screws into a piece of wood as fast as you could,’ he said. ‘One of my mates had a go and I thought I could beat his score so I took a turn and got quite a good time.

‘I didn’t think anything of it, then a couple of weeks later I had a phone call saying I had come top and had won the drill, and they would put me on the UK leaderboard where apparently I was in ninth place.’ 



Having thought he had reached the pinnacle of his screwing success, a few weeks ago Mr Boulton received another phone call saying he had made it to the UK finals of ‘Screw It’ and asking if he was he free to compete during the Silverstone Superbike meeting. 



In a tense showdown he managed to improve his time from 15 seconds to 11 and earned himself a place in the European finals taking place in Spain at the beginning of November.

Commenting on his hopes of European glory, Mr Boulton said: ‘Apparently previous winners have had a time of 10 seconds so I’m not that far off. I’m just planning on doing the best that I can.’