UNIC Cranes Europe MD wins Rental Person of the Year Award

Managing Director of UNIC Cranes Europe, Gill Riley, was celebrated for her achievements in the rental industry at the European Rental Awards in Amsterdam as she was awarded the prize for ERA/ IRN Rental Person of the Year.

Joined by members of the UNIC Cranes Europe team for the awards dinner, Gill was presented with her award by ERA president Vesa Koivula. The awards were judged by rental industry experts from around Europe who chose Gill for the evening’s sixth and final honour. As the only female to ever win this award category, she was recognised for her hard work leading one of the fastest growing rental businesses in Europe and hitting the milestone of selling 1000 mini cranes in 2013.

The event took place at the RAI exhibition centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where the APEX show, European Rental Association conference and the International Rental Exhibition are all taking place this week.

UNIC Cranes Europe is part of The GGR Group, based in the UK, who also recently took home an award from the Hire Awards of Excellence for HAE Company of the Year.

Gill became an early adopter of UNIC mini cranes in 2001 after travelling to Japan to secure a dealership with Japanese manufacturer Furukawa UNIC to import UNIC mini cranes into the UK.

After adding cranes to her hire fleet, these machines were soon in high demand, transforming Gill’s business into an ‘overnight’ success. In 2004, Gill successfully secured a European Master dealership with manufacturer Furukawa UNIC, created UNIC Cranes Europe and started to build her network of 27 distributors.

Read more about the event on the International Rental News website.