YORKSHIRE Water has won an international award, beating off competition from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The company left the likes of motor giant Audi in its wake to take the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Excellence Award.

Yorkshire Water's entry was based on its new, multi-million pound Integrated Customer and Operations Management (ICOM) system, combining IT systems with leading customer service practices.

The award was presented to IT director Alan Harrison at a recent two-day summit in Paris.