The best car technician in the country has been named as a Saffron Walden engineer, who won £1,000 cash and £7,000 in diagnostic tools.

Matthew Eeles, 36, of Saffron Walden Autos, won the Top Technician Award 2016 after more than three gruelling rounds of difficult testing.

The first application round was a quiz, which Matthew said he only entered to find out for himself which areas of diagnostics he needs to swot up on.

But to his surprise he got through to the semi-finals, with nine other engineers, who were each given 20 minutes to diagnose the faults with a car.

They were tested on a range of cars, including diesel, petrol, and hybrid engines.

The final was then a more difficult version of the same task. The five finalists had 50 minutes to identify harder-to-spot problems.

Matthew said: “It was really stressful, there was a lot of pressure.

“I didn’t think I would win it at all against the other finalists, so I was shocked. It’s taken a week for it to sink in.

“I have had so many messages and cards from friends and family. I am overwhelmed.”

He was so sure he wasn’t going to win that he didn’t even know what the prize was, the money, an ipad and expensive diagnostic tools from brands such as Euro Car Parts and Snap-on.

All the engineering courses that Matthew takes, which is as many as he can do to expand his repertoire, helped him win this national title, and the trophy is proudly displayed in the reception of the garage.

Phil Curry, editor of the trade publication which hosted the competition, Aftermarket Magazine, said: “[Matthew] showed a lot of skill and dedication in the tasks, all of which aimed to challenge different areas of automotive knowledge.

“His skill and consistency saw him earn the most points from the judges and show that he is certainly one of the best techs in the country.”