A product innovation that reduces fuel usage on JCB diggers and allows operators to get to site quicker is today recognised with one of the highest honours in the UK - a Queen's Award.

The Queen's Award for Innovation has been handed to JCB for developing a product called TorqueLock which is fitted to the company's biggest selling product, the backhoe loader.

The patented TorqueLock system eliminates torque convertor slippage on JCB backhoes and significantly increases the on-road efficiency of the digger by reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions by up to 25%. It also enables JCB backhoes to be driven at higher speeds uphill, eliminating the need for transporters.

The Queen's Award is the 26th to be won by the JCB Group since the first one was granted in 1969 - a record for a UK company.

Today JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford said: "JCB's success over the past 65 years has been built on developing machines that are innovative and which enable our customers all over the world to do their job more productively and at less cost.

"JCB TorqueLock is just one innovation among many that we've produced with our customers' needs in mind and I'm delighted for the whole team at JCB that its development has been recognised with a Queen's Award."

JCB is the world's number one manufacturer of backhoe loaders and since the first one was manufactured in 1953, almost half a million JCB backhoes have been sold in more than 150 countries around the world. The backhoe was invented by JCB's Founder, the late Joseph Cyril Bamford, in 1953.