A plumber from Talybont-on-Usk has won the regional heat of a competition which is looking to find the best in his trade in the UK.

Robbie Hawkins was crowned the winner for Wales in the UK Plumber of the Year 2018 awards and will be finding out this weekend whether he has won the overall title.

The competition winner will receive £10,000 worth of prizes including vouchers and products from companies such as Proper Job Beer Rothenberger, CK Tools, JT, Bristan, Wolseley, Salamander, Filplastic, First Stop and BigWipes.

Robbie, who runs Hawkins Heating, said: “It was a bit of a shock, I was stuck for words to be honest which is not like me. I’d entered on a bit of a whim as an advert had come up online – it’s lucky I saw it really as it was the last night the applications were open.”

The application process, which closed at the end of June, required contestants to describe a difficult job they’d been able to deal with.

The 32-year-old said he described a job he had done in Camden Road in Brecon which he believed had “ticked every box” for the judges.

Robbie said: “It was six weeks later and I had an email from them to say I’d been shortlisted out of so many applications. It was then put the public vote so I had to set myself up on social media because I’ve always just relied on word of mouth, so I was really pushing it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

Robbie was one of six plumbers across the UK to receive the most votes. The father-of-two will have to deliver a 30-minute presentation tomorrow (Friday) at Bristan’s headquarters in Staffordshire in the final part of the competition to find the winner.

Robbie said: “I’m terrified to be honest of the presentation, but it is a nice feeling to have won for Wales. I’ve been doing this for about 15 years so I’m clearly doing something right. I’ve been self-employed since I was 19 year old and I’m still enjoying it.”

The plumber who is married to Donna and has two sons, Charlie, aged three, and one-year-old George, is passing his skills onto 21-year-old apprentice James Price. He said he started out as an apprentice when he left school at 16. I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has shown their support for me over the past years and more recently weeks”.

Robbie, who thanks his friends and family and people who voted for him, said: “I’m really living the pipe dream and am pleased to gain recognition for the hard work and effort I’ve put in over the last 16 years. Hopefully I’ll do everyone proud in the final.”