Thanks to ‘Downton Abbey’, ‘Broadchurch’ and ‘Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’, ITV is a regular when it comes to winning awards. And the independent national broadcaster isn’t averse to handing out a few gongs of their own – one of which ended up in the hands of Paul Brearey, owner of Driver Hire Leeds West. He came home with a silver one after attending ITV’s ‘Insider’s Event’.
Held annually, it includes the presentation of awards to ITV’s most valued service suppliers. They recognise the outstanding service delivered by businesses, all of whom supply a service essential to ITV’s programme makers wherever they are in the UK. Driver Hire Leeds West, which is owned by Paul and his wife Julie, was up against hundreds of other companies and organisations covering everything from lighting and outside catering through to IT.
“We mainly supply drivers to their smaller production companies,” says Paul. “We’ve worked on programmes such as ‘The Syndicate’, ‘Beowulf’ and ‘Emmerdale’. Whilst it might all sound rather glamorous, the reality is somewhat different. It often means picking up equipment or collecting a vehicle from the middle of a muddy field, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night! I guess that’s where our round-the- clock, 365-days a year service comes in.”
During the course of the event, which took place at Harewood House, near Leeds, Paul – accompanied by his son Jonny, who also works in the business — and other suppliers, attended presentations from a number of senior figures at ITV and were taken on a tour of the Emmerdale set which is, of course, at Harewood House. Paul was presented with his ‘National Suppliers Award’ by Andrew Newnham, (Group Procurement Manager, ITV) and Ian Jones (Workplace Services & Estates Director, ITV).
“The whole day was a most pleasant surprise,” Paul concludes. “Of course, we pull out the stops for all our customers, all the time. But it’s really nice when your efforts are recognised with an award!”
Picture: Paul Brearey third from right.