A FORMER tea girl who rose to become a call centre magnate is in line to win a top national award for women in business.

Chey Garland is one of five women shortlisted for the Veuve Clicquot award.

Her company is the region's second largest private employer, behind Nissan, with 2,800 people working at three sites in the Tees Valley.

The 48-year-old said: "I am thrilled to be shortlisted - it is a massive honour.

"I feel I am flying the flag for the North-East. The calibre of previous winners, such as Diane Thompson and Barbara Cassani, makes it a very prestigious award."

In the next few days, she will take possession of the first of four buildings at a multi-million pound call centre village, at Preston Farm, Stockton.

The site is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs.

But she warned that this will take her call centre business, which has other sites in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, as far as it can go in the North-East.

"We have to win the work, but it is out there," she said. "I wanted to keep as much of it as I could in the Tees Valley and we still have ambitious plans to grow the business, but that will be capacity for us in Tees Valley."

For the award, Ms Garland is up against Lara Morgan, 47, founder of Pacific Direct; Carol Nash, 62, founder of an insurance company for motorcyclists; Sara Tremellen, 38, chief executive of retail company Bravissimo, and Elizabeth Wagstaff, 56, founder of the Robinia Care Group.

One of the five will inherit the title from Linda Bennett, founder and chief executive of niche fashion retailer LK Bennett. The winner will be announced on Thursday, April 28, in London.

Born in North Ormesby, Ms Garland left Middlesbrough High School and started work as a tea girl, then office junior in a credit department.

In 1980 she opened her first business, a commercial debt recovery agency.

She moved into customer care in 1993 and opened her first call centre four years later.

Garlands was named Contact Centre Agency of the Year 2004 by Marketing Magazine.

She is no stranger to silverware, having won British Steel's woman of achievement in 1999. She was also named executive of the year in the Tees Valley Business awards 2000 and was shortlisted for the Veuve Clicquot award in 2002.