An estate agency in South Wales has revealed its extraordinary efforts to reach the recent Negotiator Awards in London after rail strikes and a blown minibus engine left them in the lurch.

Twelve members of the team at Archer & Co had been planning to attend the gala even at London’s Grosvenor House hotel on Friday 25^th November.

The expanding four-branch company had been entered for the Welsh Agency of the Year award, which they won in 2021, and had taken an entire table at this year’s event.

But while two members of the team had made their way to London on the Thursday, it soon became clear that the remaining ten staff were marooned in Wales.

Blown

“We had organised a coach to take the team up to London on the Friday but the transport company said the allocated vehicle’s engine had blown and they didn’t have a back-up,” says sales manager Alex Buchanan.

“Then it became clear that the day’s train strike meant that option was closed to us too – and the cost of organising a fleet of cars to take everyone up and then stay over at a hotel would have been huge and unworkable.”

So the company’s accounts chief Sue Kennedy, whose husband also works in the property industry, offered a solution – a minibus was hired and he drove everyone up to London.

“We paid for him to stay in hotel and have a kip during the awards bash as it was a long day starting at 1pm and finishing at 4am when we all finally got back,” says Buchanan. “We can’t thank Angus enough.”

The huge round trip was worth it. Archer & Co won Gold in the category for a second year in a row.

Main picture: The Archer & Co team with Neg Awards presenter and TV star Steven Mangan including (LtoR) Abbie Drew, Alex Pelosi-Buchanan, Daisy Sheridan, Sophie Pilot, Jack Thomas, Abby Scott, Harriet Huxstep, Cheyanne Leigh and Joe Parry.