30 November, 2007

Staff at Leeds based Satellite Tracking Company Masternaut couldn't believe it when their new test driver turned up.  They had looked long and hard for the right person, and when MD Martin Port spotted Formula One star Lewis Hamilton on a plane back from Belfast – he couldn't believe his luck.                          

He invited him into the company to meet the staff who were ecstatic to meet the international star, and when he got into the company Mini – they expected a top racetrack performance.

It was only then that Martin, who runs the UK's leader in vehicle tracking systems, owned up that he'd pulled a fast one. The racing superstar he'd spotted on the plane was 25 year old Andrew Jarvis from Bradford, on his way back from his wedding in Belfast.

"I get stopped 5 or 6 times a day by people asking if I'm Lewis Hamilton, so I wasn't surprised when Martin asked me the same question – and even when he found out I wasn't the real Lewis Hamilton, he still asked me into the company"

He went for a spin in the company Mini which is fully fitted with real time vehicle tracking and is part of their GreenerFleet system which helps companies monitor and reduce their carbon footprint. "I'm not a bad driver but not quite as fast as Lewis but I really enjoyed having a go at test driving their satellite tracking systems" says Jarvis.