A Darlington businessman’s heroic plight of being held in captivity and how surviving a hostage situation left him with virtually nothing has been revealed.

Colin Eglington shared his dramatic ordeal after he turned his life around and picked up a lifetime achievement award for his role in business and the local economy.

Colin was also working as US Naval Liaison Officer on behalf of the Kuwaiti government and was forced into hiding for two and a half months in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

He was later discovered by Iraqi forces and taken hostage and removed from Kuwait to Baghdad in Iraq.

There, he was kept in captivity as a human shield inside a chemical weapons facility south of Baghdad the whole ordeal lasting six months, where the daily food was poor - a bowl of lukewarm water with around six grains of rice and some tomato skins amid dreadful conditions.

Back home, his wife was frantically arranging to meet with the then president Saddam Hussein in a desperate attempt to beg him for his release. With some financial help from friends, she contacted the Women's' League in Jordan and Iraq, allowing her to reach Baghdad – when suddenly a decision was made to release all hostages immediately.

Read more: Why the leader of Darlington council thinks the town's voice has 'never been stronger'

But despite finally returning home, Colin had lost all his family possessions and the bank accounts had been emptied by the invading army. Effectively, he lost everything.

He soon realised he would have to re-build his life and support his family. A casual comment made by a friend, that he’d struggled to buy and send a ‘Thank You’ gift for a colleague who he had stayed with, planted a seed in his mind.

It was then that he established the now hugely successful ‘Simply Thank You’ business, which specialises in corporate gifts and rewards.

The dedicated businessman was presented with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the Incentive Awards in London for his role in business and the local economy.

The business has worked out of Darlington for over 20 years – a stark contrast to the predictions Colin’s school teachers gave him when they branded him a “no hoper”.

Wendy Carter, organiser of the Incentive Awards, said: "This year's Incentive Awards saw a record number of entries and our judging panel had an incredibly difficult task deciding on the eventual winners, but Colin’s story and his great work in the area of incentive, rewards and gifting market made him stand out. He is a worthy winner of the lifetime achievement award.”

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