Surrey County Council's contact centre is in the running to be named among the best in Europe for the second time in three years.

It has been shortlisted in the best centre in Europe for customer service category of the European Call Centre Awards.

Surrey is the only council to be shortlisted in 13 awards categories that recognise excellence in the industry. Surrey was named alongside the likes of energy company Scottish Power, insurance firm LV=, telecommunications business Telefonica O2 UK and supermarket chain Tesco and the council will find out on 21 September if it has won at a ceremony in Birmingham.

Denise Saliagopolous, Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "As we push on with our drive to be a world class organisation, this recognition is hugely welcome. Our staff deserve great credit for being shortlisted alongside business giants such as Tesco and O2."

The latest shortlisting after Surrey's contact centre was commended in the same category of the annual awards in 2007. It received a received a high commendation from the judges for finishing as the runner-up to the Slough-based Lego Group. Among the entrants the county council beat were Barclays Business Banking, Gadbrook Park, Dell Computers in Dublin.

Last December, the contact centre was recognised as a centre of excellence by the professional body for customer service. It was awarded a ServiceMark from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) – the national customer service standard that takes customer views into account.

The contact centre handles 40,000 calls a month and employs more than 100 staff. It was originally set up 10 years ago to deal with calls about education but it was later recognised that the service could benefit all areas of the council.

In 2006 it tripled in size and used a general 0845 number that took enquiries for the whole council. The number switched to 0345 last year to reduce call charges for residents and seven new 0300 direct dial numbers were also introduced for callers who know which service they require and want to bypass the main menu options.