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Merseyrail is celebrating the end of the year with a hat trick of wins after scooping first prize at a prestigious European awards ceremony last week. 

I couldn’t be prouder of the team for being named amongst the top companies in Europe for the outstanding work they delivered on this multi-award-winning campaign.

David O’Leary

Commercial Director

The regional train operator beat-off stiff competition to be crowned winner in the Best Collaboration of Marketing and Customer Services category, at the European Contact Centre & Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs).

Now in their 17^th year, the ECCCSAs recognise organisations that are leading the way in delivering exceptional service to customers and are the largest and longest running awards in the customer contact industry-with entries from a record 17 countries.

The hotly anticipated finale took place at Evolution, in London’s Battersea Park and was attended by 1,100 leading industry professionals.

Hosts on the evening included TV personality, Fiona Bruce, and five times Olympic Gold medallist, Sir Steve Redgrave.

Merseyrail was awarded the coveted title for its ground-breaking marketing campaign surrounding the renewal of the Wirral Loop track this summer.

This is the third award win for the Wirral Loop campaign in the past few weeks after being crowned best innovation winner at the UK Cycle Awards and coming highly commended in the North of England Transport Awards, last month (November). 

The renewal works saw large parts of the route closed during a six-month window whilst concrete in the rail tunnels under the River Mersey was replaced.

The team was recognised on the night for the outstanding communications strategies it put in place to keep customers up to date with the works and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction during a significant period of disruption.

Highlights included setting up a dedicated social media team, who posted daily updates and gave out treats to customers such as hand warmers and free ice-cream to boost morale whilst people waited for their connecting transport.

They also introduced a replacement bike bus which was a huge hit with locals and transported cyclists from Birkenhead to Liverpool during the renovation works.  

David O’Leary, Commercial Director, Merseyrail, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the team for being named amongst the top companies in Europe for the outstanding work they delivered on this multi-award-winning campaign.  

“The track renewal presented a significant challenge to our business as Merseyrail is one of the most punctual and reliable railway networks in the UK, with consistently high scores for customer satisfaction.

“We worked hard to put the best possible forms of communications in place to ensure all our stakeholders were happy and we kept the city region moving. It’s a huge honour for us to have this recognition from such a prestigious organisation which endorses the highest possible standards in the business.”

Ann-Marie Stagg, Chair of the Judges, ECCCSA, said: Winning an “ECCCSA this year was not easy. The robust face to face judging process was carried out by judges who are very experienced and recognised across our industry. And each entry was judged through a two-stage process which included both panel presentations and site judging visits.”