Business Correspondent

STAFF from a Bolton company arrived at Manchester Airport with passports and suitcases, not knowing whether they would be jetting off on the holiday of a lifetime or returning to work.

Just over an hour later they heard they had won a prize flight to fly to New York.

The seven employees of Design House UK were chosen from four finalists as winners of a live radio competition.

More than 400 companies from across the North-west entered 100.4 Smooth FM's Work Your Way To The USA competition. Over the last three weeks, the station whittled them down to four finalists -- the others were Botanical Interiors from Blackburn, Conway Road Health Centre in Manchester and Ravenhead Renaissance from St Helens.

Staff from the four companies arrived at the airport at 7am yesterday, all packed and ready to go. The Middlebrook-based company was picked at 8.15am by breakfast host Chris Best and all seven -- including the cleaner -- were whisked away to board their plane for the weekend away.

Smooth FM's programme director, Steve Collins, was the live link at the airport when the announcement was made.

He said: "I've been broadcasting for years, but I've never been as nervous as I was waiting for the decision. We simply gave each company a number from one to four and the number was picked at random. They went berserk and the whole place was cheering."

Staff at Design House UK, which began trading in March, have Joanna Nixon to thank for their trip, as she faxed their firm's details to the station a month ago. The luxury trip is a double celebration for company boss Ernest Pallas, who celebrates his 50th birthday on Tuesday.

Steve Collins said the station was hoping to run another similar competition.

Not surprisingly, no-one from Design House UK was available for comment.