TWENTY years ago he was a truck driver, fed up of working for someone else and not being able to settle in any of the many towns he moved around to.

Today he is the proud owner of a wedding dress agency which has just been voted the most popular bridal gown retailer in the world through the Wedding Industry Experts awards 2015.

Village Brides, at Long Compton, was opened in 2012 by Ramsey Soudah. Since then, his partner Emma Ireland has come on board and together they provide a unique service that ensures each bride is happy with her choice.

"We work as an agency and offer discounts of up to 75 per cent by sourcing ex-sample, pre-loved and purchased but unworn gowns. We will also take a dress that someone had bought but had not worn and sell it for them," said Mr Soudah.

"We have a no rules policy too so brides can bring along as many people as they like to view the dresses. Children are welcome too and there are no pushy sales and no age or size limits. We want people to have a wonderful experience from their first visit. I guarantee that no bride will find a better service," he said.

"And we don't try to sell someone something they don't want," he added. "We would ask them their maximum spend and bring them dresses in that range. From the sales we take a percentage and also give a percentage of the sales to the premature babies charity: SSNAP - Support for the Sick, Newborn and their parents, at John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford."

Mr Soudah added: "We don't offer alterations but can make recommendations if someone wants a dress altering as each one will go up or down a couple of sizes. And we are soon to develop a little explored area of the wedding dress world by offering dresses in sizes 16 to 36. "These will be specially designed in larger sizes so they are balanced and not some larger version of a dainty size six dress that would not look right. This is so that every bride, whatever her age or size, has the best possible chance of getting the dress they love at a great price."

Mr Soudah is a self-taught businessman. After giving up driving trucks he began making websites for people and became a small business advisor. He soon found many of the businesses he was dealing with were going into the wedding industry and he thought, why not?

"I think people do think it strange at first that a man should run a wedding dress agency which is why Emma helps with the fittings and not me.

"Going from being a truck driver to this is different but I love it and I love knowing that people have left the shop delighted. We have even had people not buy anything but still given us a great review. That means we are doing it right," he said.