Hairdressing boss Christian Hefti is top of the crops with his staff after shelling out almost £5,000 to whisk them away on an Alpine skiing holiday as a thank-you for all their hard work.

He is shutting up shop for a week and covering all expenses for seven staff to reward them for a bumper year and the fact that not one of them had a day off sick in the past 12 months.

Now the team - including Christian - will be swooping down the French slopes of Les Deux Alpes about two hours from Lyon, instead of braving the chilly wind of Heaton where they work at the Christian of Highgate salon.

"A year ago I told my staff that I had a dream to be able to take them all skiing with me," Christian said.

"Then I thought about it. If we worked really hard and pulled out all the stops then I would do it. I made a few inquiries and the idea didn't seem so ridiculous after all."

Christian, 37, is an accomplished skier, but none of his staff jetting off to the Alps have taken to the slopes before.

Excited senior stylist/designer Claire Benson, 31, said: "It's amazing. I'm looking forward to the trip but I'm a bit nervous because I've never skied before.

"It's just typical of Christian to do something like this. He's fantastic to work for, really fun. He's a boss in a million and this is going to be a real treat for the Millennium."

But Christian said it was all down to his workers' hard work and enterprise.

"The staff have worked fantastically - we had a bumper year last year, and so now my dream is going to come true. We are shutting the salon for a week and going on this trip," he said.

"The whole of last year we did not have anyone off sick, no-one was ill. That's incredible if you think I have seven staff here.

"There is a really good atmosphere in the salon and we are a great team. Normally we might have hired a limo and had a night out in Leeds or Manchester, the typically Christmas works do, but I wanted to do something special, because it was the Millennium and as an extra-special thank you."

He said his customers had been "gobsmacked" by the plan to shut up shop and jet off, but have wished them a good time - as long as they all come back in one piece.

"I've had a few of my male clients saying that there should be more men on this holiday and one even offered me a thousand pounds to tag along.

"Our other regulars have said that they don't mind the salon being shut for a week as long as we don't come back with our arms and legs in plaster," said Christian who has been running the salon for the past five years.

All those heading for the slopes are understandably excited by the prospect.

Graduate designer Naomi Shackleton, 17, from Thornton, added: "It's going to be a good laugh. Christian is really cool and I'm sure we'll all have a really good time."

And Christian is even laying on a treat to get them in the holiday mood.

"I've hired a land-cruiser from my friend to get us to the airport in style," he said.

The staff who are going include: Nicola Pearson, 32, a beauty therapist who runs her own business on the premises, Natalie Lawrence, 20, from Manningham, Rebecca Ormonroyd, 18, from Wibsey, Naomi Shackleton, 17, from Thornton, Sarah Ackroyd, 31, from Wilsden and Sophie Ali, 17, from Queen's Road.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.