Balloon firm in excellent year

A hot air ballooning firm in Telford is celebrating the most successful year in its 20-year history.

Virgin Balloon Flights, based in Stafford Park, Telford, has more than 100 UK launch sites

And the company sold more than 25,000 hot air balloon flight vouchers last year. This boom in sales has made the past year the company's biggest ever.

It was launched in 1987 and boasts the largest fleet of balloons in the UK, and the largest passenger-carrying balloon in the UK.

Alex Hardie, marketing director, said: "Last year was an amazing year for Virgin Balloon Flights.

"We exceeded our sales expectations significantly. 2007 is going to be bigger still, with new supplier contracts coming online and more hot air balloons being added to our fleet."

And Mr Hardie said the company was gearing up for Valentine's Day, one of the most popular times of year for buying hot air balloon experience gifts.

Virgin Balloon Flights employs more than 50 people nationwide and more than 20 at its Telford headquarters.

The Telford-based company was so strapped for space to house its expanding fleet of hot air balloons, it was forced to run an advertising campaign in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire calling for farmers to offer up storage space.