Northern Rock held its first awards ceremony for staff in its call centres in the Sunderland area.  Winners included Steven Baitey (left), pictured receiving his trophy for "customer service superstar" from the leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Bob Symonds.
Northern Rock's personnel director, Lynne Griffin, personnel director, said: "At a time when we're preparing to expand our contact centres even further, we feel these awards are a fitting way of recognising and rewarding the contribution these employees make."
In the last three years, the company had taken on an extra 1,000 customer contact staff in the North East and they now represented 30pc of its workforce.
Held at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, the awards ceremony was attended by around 140 call centre staff from Doxford Park and Gosforth and from the council, which sponsored the event.
Other winners: sales superstar, Dominic Robinson; contact centre professional, Declan Stewart; contact centre ambassador, Nicola Hornsby; contact centre dream team, Connections; outstanding leader of the year, Joana Dunn; Northern Rock contact centre of the year, Personal Secured Loans.