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Hurtigruten names Bideford Travel agent winner of £24K car competition

A Devon-based agent has been left “flabbergasted” after winning a £24,000 hybrid car in a competition run by expedition line Hurtigruten.

Michelle Thomson, of Bideford Travel, joined around 85 agents by entering the prize draw after booking the soon-to-launch Fridtjof Nansen ship for a customer and his partner next year. She discovered the competition by reading Travel Weekly earlier this year.

To enter the competition, agents needed to book the line’s hybrid-powered Roald Amundsen ship, which sailed its maiden voyage in July, or its sister vessel Fridtjof Nansen between May 29 and July 31.

Head of UK trade sales Mark Walter revealed Thomson had won the competition in a Facebook Live broadcast on Thursday (August 22).

Thomson learnt of her win when she received a call from Walter soon afterwards.


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She said: “I was going to watch the Facebook Live but a customer came in which always happens, so I was busy doing a quote when Mark called. I was flabbergasted – I still am.”

Thomson said she will give her current car to her daughter once she gets the keys to her new Toyota C-HR vehicle which needs to be ordered by the cruise line.

She added: “I never have any luck in these competitions. This is fantastic and I just could not believe it.”

In the Facebook Live broadcast, Walter said: “Back in early June, Hurtigruten launched the world’s first hybrid powered cruise ship Roald Amundsen and next April we are having a second [hybrid] ship join us in Fridtjof Nansen, so obviously the word hybrid is a massive point in our future and we want to try and recognise that.

“We had a fantastic response and a great engagement. We have had in excess of 140 entries from about 85 different people that joined and entered the competition.”

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