IT’S OFFICIAL – THE MALL BLACKBURN’S SECURITY TEAM IS BEST IN UK

The security team at The Mall Blackburn are celebrating after picking up two gongs at the annual national VSG Security and The Mall Reward and Recognition Programme awards ceremony.

Security Manager Ronnie O’Keefe and his 20 members of staff picked up the title of Team of the Year, whilst an initiative to train retailers on how to deal with shoplifters, devised by Deputy Security Manager Bernard Coupe, clinched the accolade of Best Idea.

VSG Security is contracted to provide highly trained personnel to the eleven Malls across the UK and the two companies fund and run the Reward and Recognition Programme to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the staff.

The Best Team award comes after a very busy year at The Mall Blackburn, which saw the grand re-opening of the £66million development, the addition of several high profile retailers as well as the Duke Of Lancaster Regiment’s homecoming parade and the widely publicised EDL march.

The training initiative for retailers, which has been named SCONES Training, was put together by Bernard in conjunction with management, Lancashire Police and Blackburn Business Against Crime, which The Mall’s security team are heavily involved in.

It proved so popular with the retailers, and judges at the awards, that it is now going to be rolled out across the UK.

Speaking of his team’s success, Ronnie said: “I am extremely proud to work with the team at The Mall Blackburn and they thoroughly deserved to win the award for Team of the Year.

“Throughout the development of The Mall Blackburn they put in extra hours and worked through the night to ensure the security of the site and the construction workers.

“We also played a huge part in the planning and implementation of the arrangements for the homecoming parade and the EDL march.

“The SCONES training programme is a fantastic initiative and has been very well received by retailers, which is testament to the hard work put in by Bernard and it is wonderful that it will now be introduced across the country.”

Loraine Jones, General Manager at The Mall Blackburn, said: “We have a fantastic and very long standing relationship with VSG Security and we look forward to attending the awards ceremony each year.

“It came as no surprise to me that our security team won the two awards as I know they are the best at what they do and I would like to personally congratulate each and every one of them.”

The awards ceremony was attended by management and security staff from The Mall’s 11 shopping centres. It was held at the VSG Security head office in Northampton on Wednesday 8th June.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:

Picture Caption: Ronnie O’Keefe and his awards winning team and Bernard Coupe with his trophy

More information about The Mall Blackburn:

• The Mall is the UK's leading community shopping centre fund. Managed by Capital & Regional and Aviva Investors, The Mall Fund owns 11 shopping centres across the UK - home to approximately 1400 retail units and attracting approximately 2.3 million shopping visits every week.

• For further editorial information about The Mall, Blackburn, contact Denise Dawson, Julie Hackett or Paula Holden at ICG on 01772 679383.

denise@icgonline.co.uk, paula@icgonline.co.uk Julie@icgonline.co.uk.

Out of hours contact: Paula Holden: 07772268378

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