National ‘Inspiration Award’ for Exeter cancer sufferer

Local Vanessa Fyles-Legg, Bus Driver and Customer Service Advisor for APCOA Parking at Exeter Airport, has won the Inspiration Award at this year’s British Parking Awards. 

Vanessa won the prize for her dedication, fantastic work ethic and fundraising efforts. Vanessa is a model employee who, despite living with cancer for the last seven years and undergoing at least one operation every year, is entirely committed to her role.

In a rollercoaster awards ceremony, Vanessa was passed up for ‘Parking Person of the Year’, the award she was originally nominated for, but went on to win the ‘Inspiration Award’. The only winner to make an acceptance speech, Vanessa said she believed in the power of positivity to make a difference in people’s lives.

Through APCOA’s constant support, Vanessa has been able to take five external qualifications and a multitude of internal training sessions at work. She is now able to provide cover for site supervisors when needed and take a more active role in managing the team.

As well as working for APCOA and running her own delivery company with her husband, Vanessa is a serial charity fundraiser. She has raised over £4000 in the last three years, taking part in eight fundraising runs and walks across the UK.

Kim Challis, Regional Managing Director of APCOA UK & Ireland, said: “APCOA works hard day in day out across the UK, so we are thrilled to have received two awards at the British Parking Awards this year.

I am particularly proud of Bus Driver and Customer Service Advisor Vanessa Fyles-Legg at Exeter Airport who, through her dedication and fantastic work ethic, has won the ‘Inspiration Award’ Vanessa is a brilliant employee who, despite living with cancer, shows her commitment to her role every day through her hard work, dedication to improvement, and interactions with colleagues and customers alike.”

Vanessa Fyles-Legg, Bus Driver and Customer Service Advisor for APCOA Parking at Exeter Airport, said: “People ask me how I do it. I tell them I’m a believer in smiling. I believe that if I smile at you, you smile back at me, and you take that smile with you and spread it on to someone else.”