Irene Hays

"We are committed to providing excellent value and friendly, professional service and expertise to our customers, who trust us with their holiday plans. Being the UK’s largest independent travel agent means we have access to unparalleled choice and value, which we share with our customers through our network of branches around the UK, through our personal travel consultants who work from home, our virtual call centre, and our digital channels."

"overnight – not least in our scale and geography. That said, we were determined to stay true to our values and the family feel of our business, and we work hard to maintain that for our colleagues and our customers."

"Yes, technology is huge for us, from the state-of-the-art systems that are used by our retail network, Independence Group members and personal travel consultants, to our customer facing website – which we have invested in recently – to the App we are creating, and how we use AI. We are constantly developing how we improve our customer experience and business through technology."

"I feel this really isn't an award just for me, it's for all the people who have created the right environment for all those people to succeed and the apprentices and the young people themselves."

"I think that people pay too much attention to getting academic qualifications - not everyone can get them. There is a place in that whole system for well run apprenticeship schemes."

"“The reason why I am so passionate about apprentices and apprenticeships is that they have added the goods all the way through my career.""

"“I think I was seen as someone who got things done, a problem solver, but from my point of view that always involved getting the right people around the table.”"

"“The people currently running the council are not interested in empty rhetoric, they just want to get things done.”"