THE Business Express customer service centre in Lester Road, Little Hulton has achieved the prestigious Investor in People standard.

It has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to the training and development of 50 employees.

Business Express is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Littlewoods Retail Group with 4,000 employees nationally and a delivery fleet of 2,000 vehicles.

It also provides services for third party clients such as M & M Sports, Thorntons, W H Smith-Online, Lands End and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The Little Hulton centre was established just over a year ago.

Manager Elaine Boyle said: "The extent of our service provision is evolving continuously, requiring us to train and develop staff on an ongoing basis

"The company partners a large number of major clients and they need to have confidence that our core service is supported by reliable systems."

The IiP Assessment and Recognition body praised the development of people by involvement in project work to identify and improve business processes.

It enabled them to gain a valuable insight into the business, build teamwork, understanding and employee skills generally -- resulting in improved business performance. CELEBRATION TIME: Pictured enjoying the successful IiP achievement with staff are (front) Training Manager Debbie Williams, Managing Director Mick Janicki and Customer Service Manager Elaine Boyle