TWO colleagues are celebrating after they received awards for their hard work and commitment to the travel industry.

Thomas Cook travel agents recently held an awards ceremony for more than 300 staff working across North Yorkshire and Teesside.

The company's Northallerton branch celebrated a triple success, with both Gil Wilson and Rachel Wilson being praised for their work.

The branch was named shop of the year and manager Gil, who picked up the award for manager of the year, believes the key to her success was a dedicated workforce.

"Northallerton has got this award through a lot of hard work in a difficult year.

"The September 11 disaster hit the travel industry hard, but this January, we turned a corner.

"We really focused on customer service and, as a strong team, we were very committed."

Her colleague, Rachel Wilson, was awarded the title of customer service manager of the year.

She said: "I've been in this branch for five years and am absolutely over the moon to receive the accolade, it came as a complete surprise."

The company's regional manager, Nigel Rankin, presented the certificates at a ceremony held in Northallerton's Club Amadeus.

The event saw 11 members of staff pick up awards, including Jill Wormald, from the Harrogate branch, Jackie McEvitt, from York, and Diane Bottomley, from Middlesbrough