A NORTH-EAST family has been showered with prizes after helping a rapidly-growing internet company to reach an important milestone.

Drew Urwin, from Framwellgate Moor, Durham, was thrilled when YouFibre announced he was its 1,000th customer and had won free broadband for a year.

Senior managers from the broadband provider, which prides itself on offering customers speeds of up to 1000 megabytes per second (Mbps) compared to the national average of around 65Mpbs, visited Drew and his family to present them with a variety of goodies.

Drew said: “I feel amazing. We’ve just been connected by YouFibre, and it’s really good. I’m just so surprised at the speeds we’re getting – 1000 megs is just unbelievable.

“The kids are constantly using their different tablets and consoles and things, so we’re always competing for bandwidth, and I think this will make a massive difference.”

The Northern Echo: YouFibre’s head of sales Stuart Crampsie presents a bottle of champagne to 1000th customers Sara, Eva, and Harri Urwin

Drew and his family were visited on their broadband activation day by YouFibre’s managing director Ryan Battle, head of sales Stuart Crampsie, and head of marketing Simon Gray, who presented them with their prizes.

As well as a year’s free broadband, the family also received a top-of-the-range Sonos wireless speaker, a Ring video doorbell, and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, along with Amazon vouchers for the kids.

Drew added: “This has been a real treat. It’s been completely unexpected, but what a great surprise to win all this.

“The free broadband is great, but I really love the speaker– the football will be blasting through that later on!”

Mr Battle said: "We're delighted to announce our 1,000th customer and to be here today with Drew and his family to welcome them to YouFibre.

“To reach this milestone within eleven months of inception is a huge achievement for the YouFibre team. Our pace of growth highlights the demand for ultrafast broadband throughout the UK.

“We look forward to connecting many more customers in the coming months.”