A team of Durham 999 operators have been shortlisted for a national award.
Durham Constabulary Communications B Relief Team are heading down to the Control Room Awards tonight where they will go up against three other nominees for the ‘Team of the year’ award.
The Control Room Awards recognise the inspiring work of control room teams and individuals as well as the selfless service they provide to the public.
The B relief shift, which are made up of both officers and staff, battled it out against 170 entries, consisting of 40 organisations to make it to the top three.
The team, who are based at Durham Constabulary HQ, were nominated after their fundraising efforts were recognised by the awards team.
Outside of work, the group regularly spend time together and more so recently following the devastating news that one of their former colleagues had been informed her cancer had returned and was incurable.
Learning of this news, the team began to brainstorm ideas of how they could start and fundraise for the charity that supported their colleague through some very tough times.
A total of £5,000 has now been raised by the team which has been donated to their chosen charity – St Cuthbert’s Hospice.
Force Incident Manager, Inspector Barry Evans said: “It is a pleasure to be part of a team who not only dedicate themselves to ensuring the safety of the public but who also ensure the wellbeing of each other.
“The team are like one big family, they make coming to work a lot easier, you really need that when working in such a high pressured environment like ours.
“It’s nice to know you can rely on each other when you need that bit of extra support both in the workplace and outside of it too.
“I wish those travelling to the awards to represent us the best of luck.”
The ceremony will be held tonight following the first day of the Emergency Services Show in Birmingham.