Ben first entered the Travel Industry in 1978 when he joined Ilkeston Co-op ,The 'Pioneers of Low Cost Travel' as their Accountant. Ilkeston Co-op led the challenge to allow Travel Agencies to discount holidays. In their case they achieved this via Vouchers the customer redeemed in the Ilkeston Department store. They took the case to court and eventually won it, changing the face of travel retail for ever.
 
From there he moved to Leicestershire Co-op to help set up Co-op Travel across the East Midlands and eventually moved to West Midlands Co-op, now Midcounties Co-op ,in 1988.
 
The initial task at West Midlands Co-op was to replicate the Leicestershire project and create a High St chain of Travel Agencies across the Black Country. This was successful with the creation of a chain of 30 High St shops that became the dominant Independent Travel Agency chain across the Black Country.
 
From this strong platform  sprung the Holiday Hypermarket concept, the chain of 10,000  square ft edge of town Travel Agencies. Not only did these have very specialist staff with designated zones for different types of Holidays, for example Cruise, it also had an in store mini cinema showing destination videos plus a range of quirky features that were designed to make customers smile. The strap line was 'go on holiday to book a holiday'.
 
This business format was incredibly successful and gathered many awards including one for changing the face of Retail Travel. At the point that there were 25 Hypermarkets open the business was sold to First Choice.
 
Parallel to this West Midlands Co-op Travel acquired Rainbow Holidays , the number 2 uk short break operator , from the Receiver and restored it to good health. Ultimately this was also sold to First Choice.
 
Ben was also fundamental in the creation of Co-op Travel Ltd along with Mike Greenacre. This brought together all of the Co-ops who were in Travel and created a strong national force. It was the bulk of this business which was subsequently sold to Thomas Cook.
 
The one element of Co-operative Travel that wasn't sold to Thomas Cook was the element owned by Midcounties Co-op and under the executive management of Ben. This decision was based on his belief that the Co-op brand , which designates a particular business style  should not be owned by a plc, regardless of the price offered. Of course that issue has now been resolved with the ending of the Cooks/Co-op deal.
 
Since the decision to stand alone ,Midcounties have gone from strength to strength and is now one of the largest Independent Travel retailers in the uk.
 
Throughout Ben's' 39 years in Travel he has constantly been at the leading edge of innovation in Travel. His main focus is on providing the right holiday to the right customer but trying to do so by deliver outstanding customer service. It is this combination that has underpinned Ben's successful career in Travel.
 
Ben was awarded the OBE in 2010 for services to business and his work in the Community and he was honoured by the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2017.