Teesside Call Centre hosts its own academy awards in glittering night of the stars.

YOU’RE all stars!

Hardworking employees at a leading Teesside call centre have staged a Hollywood-style ‘Oscars’ night to celebrate top performance.

OC5 staff, based on the Wilton International site, donned their best evening wear for the event at Middlesbrough’s Thistle Hotel.

The night was graced with ‘real’ celebrity presence in the giant shape of Gary Tiplady - a 7ft 3in ‘Jaws’ look-alike from the Bond movies.

Lisa Graydon and Mike Fleming of OC5’s parent company, Sembcorp Utilities UK, organised the spectacular.

Lisa said: “It was a really glittering night and great fun for our staff who work really hard on behalf of our customers.

“It was an occasion on which our people could let their hair down and celebrate their many achievements.”

OC5 has been in operation for five years. It has a major contract with Centrica (British Gas) to manage queries from commercial customers and OC5’s 160 customer service executives at Wilton have had a tremendous year so far – breaking daily and monthly calls records in the first quarter.

Staff at the OC5 have also proved they are among the best in the UK in recent years by winning a number of top awards at national ‘Oscars’ events organised by the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) – the industry body that represents call centre workers across the country.

Training officer Andy Petford was this year named UK Call Centre Support Manager of the Year at the CCMA event – beating off the challenge of hundreds of others in similar roles throughout the UK.

Teesside’s night of ‘Oscars’ success was crowned when the company gave out internal awards in 12 different categories.

Winners were: Mike Byles (British Energy Award); Nicola Pursley (Quality of Service); Elizabeth Yates (Highest Performer); Rachel Brooks (Most Consultative); Elizabeth Yates (Most Loyal); Andy Clarke (Most Proactive); Dan Mortby (Most Versatile); Lisa Clarke (Most Inspirational/Motivational); Vicky Kochanowski (Best Newcomer); Kelly Wilson (Best Teamworker); Kathy Skillcorn (Most Supportive) Tony Sivills (Managers Choice Award).

The picture shows glamorous OC5 representatives at the event.

The pictures shows Jaws getting a point across to OC5 customer services representative Tamlyn Hodgson.