News 2006
Virgin Mobile gets in the saddle for the Big Ride 2006
17/05/2006
On 22nd May Virgin Mobile’s staff will kick off the Big Ride fund raising initiative, in a bid to raise more than £50,000 for charity. The Big Ride is a week’s long bicycle ride, starting in Middlesbrough, travelling via the Virgin Mobile Head Office in Trowbridge, and finishing in London, a total distance of more than 500 miles.
The Big Ride will kick off on Monday 22nd May in Middlesbrough at Centre North East, the offices of Garlands Call Centres, Virgin Mobile’s outsourced customer service centre, and finish at its Virgin Mobile’s offices in Leicester Square in London on Friday 26th May.
Three teams, each comprising of eight members of Virgin Mobile staff, are taking part to help raise a whopping £50,000 for two charities: ABC Trust, which provides support and care to help transform the lives of thousands of impoverished street children in Brazil and Cancer Research UK, the UK’s leading charity dedicated to cancer research.
Each participant will be spending up to ten hours a day in the saddle and will cover 100 miles a day. Additional staff will be joining in the fun and taking part for a day’s cycling during the week.
| Key timings of Big Ride: | ||
| May 22nd | 8-9am | Big Ride leaves Middlesbrough from Garlands Call Centre |
| May 25th | 12pm-1pm | Big Ride arrives at Virgin Mobile’s Head Office Trowbridge |
| May 26th | 4pm-5pm | Big Ride arrives at Virgin Mobile’s offices in Leicester Square |
Rob Shardlow, General Manager of New Retail at Virgin Mobile, said: “The Big Ride is a unique idea for Virgin Mobile to raise money for charity and to integrate the three different offices that are located in Trowbridge, Middlesbrough and London. There are a number of keen cyclists in the company and we struck on the idea of each cycling 500 miles across the UK. It’s going to be a tough week spending 10 hours a day in the saddle but we are looking forward to the challenge!”
The main sponsors are Garlands Call Centres, Motorola and Morgan Stanley who have each donated £10,000.
All donations can be made by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/VMBigRide2006
For further press information please contact:
Jo Baker, Virgin Mobile press office
07941 233300 or 0845 6006272
pressoffice@virginmobile.com
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 4 million customers*.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com or on the high street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Stores within Virgin Megastores, The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Dixons, Phones 4u, Curry's, Comet, Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Argos, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Ryman plus hundreds of independents mobile phones dealers and available via Shop Direct, Littlewoods, Grattan and Empire home shopping channels.
Virgin Mobile Pay Monthly (contract) is currently available in Virgin Mobile Stores, The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Phones 4u and at concessions in WHSmith and at www.virginmobile.com
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough.
Virgin Mobile's customers were found to be the most-satisfied mobile consumers in the pre-pay sector for two years running in 2005 and 2004, according to the surveys by J.D. Power and Associates. Virgin Mobile is also featured in `The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list 2005 and is part of the FTSE4Good Index.
*On a 90-day activity basis
