FOR the second time in two years, an Isle of Wight employee has been recognised for their outstanding work in welcoming visitors ­— and we’re being asked to get behind him.

Hovertravel's Lorry Middleton has been shortlisted in this year's Visit England and Mirror newspaper's tourism superstar award­.

He joins an elite group of ten individuals who have been shortlisted by the Mirror and Visit England, beating hundreds of others, and it is now down to a public vote to decide the winner.

Lorry is a firm favourite with visitors to the Island and regulars who make the crossing between Southsea and Ryde.

"I’m overwhelmed because I’m just a guy who turns up to go to work and does a good job," said Lorry.

"You need returning business, you need people to say ‘I had a terrific experience’ or ‘I had a good experience’.

"And even if they had a bad experience, find out why they had a bad experience and improve it, to say 'that shouldn’t have happened’."

Lorry recently won hearts at Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards in November, picking up the gold award for customer service.

It’s the second time in two years that the Isle of Wight has appeared in the shortlist for the awards, after Red Funnel’s dancing man, Jim O’Reilly, scooped the award in 2018.

Voting opens at 9am on March 7, and closes on April 21.

To vote, visit www.mirror.co.uk