Kirsty Steele, 21, of Gratrix Lane, Sowerby Bridge, was part of Team UK, who took part in the Cleaning Services Team event at the EuroSkills 2008 competition in Rotterdam last week.

And as every competitor was also marked individually, not only did Team UK win gold, but Kirsty came home with a personal gold as the highest scoring cleaning supervisor in the cleaning competition alongside Patrick Komarek from Austria.

EuroSkills is the pan-European skills competition in which 29 countries battle to prove they are the most skilled at 25 different competitions including cleaning, fashion, cooking and hairdressing.

Kirsty, who works for MITIE Cleaning and Support Services Ltd, faced three days of gruelling dirty work.

Kirsty said: "Words really can't describe how pleased I am with the results. I don't mind getting my hands mucky at all.

"The competition was tough and being up against the best cleaners in Europe adds a tremendous amount of pressure. But I have been training hard for this and managed to concentrate on the job in hand and doing the best I could.

"Competing at EuroSkills has been such a great experience and I'm really happy we've managed to show the whole of Europe how talented the UK really is."

Kirsty was one of 16 young people in Team UK, who achieved eight gold medals and one silver in total.

Her role included overseeing the work of two cleaners as they transformed a mucky office and hospital area and then stripped and resealed a floor.

She had to organise the team and ensure procedures were followed correctly.

Training included team-building weekends and having her problem-solving skills analysed by psychologists.

MITIE won the competition last year, qualifying for EuroSkills.

Kirsty, who joined the company last December, volunteered to take part.

Skills minister David Lammy said: "Each of the young people in the team have worked hard to earn the right to represent their country and it was inspiring to see them competing against the brightest and best from countries across Europe."