A WHITEPARISH company which received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise has met with business minister Mark Prisk as he begins the search for new firms worthy of the prestigious award.

Beamer Ltd was honoured with the award in 2009 for creating the Tramper, an allterrain mobility buggy which has been featured on the BBC programme Top Gear.

Chris Goddard from the company was invited to attend a showcase of previous winners held at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

He chatted with Mr Prisk about the product as the minister urged more innovative companies to put their names forward for the award from The Queen.

“This showcase forms part of a package of initiatives and programmes which the Government is leading to show how innovative and world-leading our manufacturing base is here in the UK,” said Mr Prisk.

“We’ve been very impressed by the entries to this year’s awards, “Of the 209 winners, 180 are small- and medium-sized businesses and almost half are from manufacturing.

This demonstrates how smaller businesses and the manufacturing industry can drive growth for UK Plc. I encourage firms to get involved and submit their entries for next year’s awards.”

Entry is now open for the 2013 Queen’s Awards for Enterprise and will close on September 28 2012.