WOW! What a sarnie - and what service from Eric Mair, proprietor of Mair's Delicatessen in Heworth Village, York.

Both were good enough to warrant a nomination by Helen Walbey for a national Wow! customer service award, which she presented to Eric at the delicatessen.

Helen, 27, who works for Portakabin in New Lane, Huntington, says that Eric showed more fascination than wince at her regular lunchtime request for her own designer sandwich - namely wholemeal bread with butter, rocmador liver pate, and marinated South African pepperdew peppers, mayo and salad.

In fact he was so pleased with the combination he put it on the menu.

Helen said: "We do a lot of training in customer service. That's how the Wow! awards, a national non-profits award programme to recognise outstanding customer service, came to my attention. The public is expected to nominate organisations which have pleased them.

"I immediately thought of Mairs because the service and product are always excellent and I nominated the delicatessen on the Wow! awards website.

"A colleague recommended the place because of its huge choice and top quality ingredients. The staff are very friendly and even when they are busy they find time to chat

"I had been away for three months after suffering from fits and when I returned they not only gave me a big welcome back but instantly remembered my fetish for rocmador."

Eric said: "This nomination came out of the blue, with a letter from Wow! Awards based at Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. It makes all the hard work to ensure freshness and variety really worthwhile."

Updated: 10:18 Tuesday, November 05, 2002