STAFF at a busy Tourist Information Centre who have been christened the fourth emergency service by their bosses have clinched a top award.The Bury St Edmunds centre on Angel Hill won the Tourist Infromation Centre of the Year title for the eastern region in the Excellence in England Awards and will now go on to fight off national competition.

STAFF at a busy Tourist Information Centre who have been christened the fourth emergency service by their bosses have clinched a top award.

The Bury St Edmunds centre on Angel Hill won the Tourist Infromation Centre of the Year title for the eastern region in the Excellence in England Awards and will now go on to fight off national competition.

Lord Somerleyton and former head of the BBC Weather Centre Bill Giles handed over the award at a special ceremony at the East of England Tourist Board's annual meeting in Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, this week.

Also celebrating are staff at Bury's Moyse's Hall Museum, which was highly commended in the small visitor attraction category of the excellence awards.

Andrew Varley, St Edmundsbury Borough Council cabinet member for arts and culture, congratulated the council-run tourist information centre and Moyse's Hall: "These awards reflect all the hard work our staff put in to providing excellent services to the public."

Justin Wallace, tourism manager for the council, said the award for the information centre reflected the dedication of its staff: "They do a marvellous job and know about everything – not just the tourism side of things.

"I like to think of them as the fourth emergency service – they really go out of their way to help and that comes across."

He is now hoping the centre can win the national award.

"There must be a lot of TICs out there which have come up with innovations and other impressive things but we would hope to do well. We're not expecting to win but it would be nice," he added.