Nicola Park’s Seaside Travel had just been named Top Seller for Jet2holidays Small Chain (2-24 branches) – Northern England when Jet2 head of trade Alan Cross handed the mic to her long-term partner Barry Coatman, who dropped to one knee to pop the question.
Cue rapturous applause when she accepted, with the couple from the north-east now thinking about getting married and honeymooning in the Algarve.
"I’m absolutely over the moon," Park told TTG minutes after Coatman’s proposal. "Fourteen years I’ve been waiting to trap him, and I’ve got him now in the net. Now we’ve got to get married, we’re going to have to plan it and it might be in the Algarve."
The engagement came just hours after Park starred as one of three experts quizzed by Jet2holidays general manager trade Lloyd Cross, winning herself a skydiving experience at the Who Dares Wins-themed conference, which turned out to be integral to the engagement.
Coatman, who is now retired but is the former managing director of En-Route Executive Travel, told TTG how the couple met 14 years ago. "Nic was advertising airport transfers, and I had my own bus company, buses coaches and taxis, so I popped in for a quick chat.
"I thought nothing of it, and then she invited me to a Christmas night out with Seaside Travel so I went along and we really hit it off. And we’ve just gone from there. That was 14 years ago, give or take."
Coatman admitted he was incredibly nervous up on stage waiting for his moment. "Nicola got the skydiving experience this afternoon, and I said to her – ‘if you do the skydiving, I’ll marry you.’ And then it just went from there.
"Lloyd and Alan said to me: ‘are you going to propose?’ And I said if we win an award tonight [Coatman is an investor in Seaside], I’ll get down on one knee on the stage."
Unbeknown to the Seaside team, they were in line for a gong, having achieved top seller status for Jet2 in the north of England over the past year. "It was then I knew I had to go through with it there and then," said Coatman.
Park founded Seaside Travel in Easington some 22 years ago and now has four stores in the north-east – Easington, Hartlepool, Sacriston and Wingate – employing more than 25 members of staff.
