Phones boss Simon Ainslie has hosted some wild business trips, once witnessing two clients stripping to their boxer shorts and ski boots and then racing the length of a swimming pool in front of a cheering audience.

“It was all harmless fun after a day’s skiing and seemed like a really great idea at the time,” insists Ainslie. “The people on our trips are usually very good customers of ours and things never get too outrageous - honestly. Generally they know how to behave!”

Ainslie, 41, is the managing director or Nokia UK, which has around 40 per cent of the mobile phone market in the UK. He is responsible for 2,000 employees in the UK and travels extensively for meetings with colleagues and to visit and entertain customers. As well as going to the company’s head office in Helsinki, Ainslie has travelled to various short-haul destinations this year and has also visited Dubai, Mumbai and Beijing.

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The company hosts clients at many events, such as Ascot, Wimbledon and Euro 2008. We also take a select bunch skiing.

Any big mishaps?

In January, we were taking a party of 35 skiing to Val Thorens in France from Heathrow, and we were just getting on the plane when the British Airways flight from Beijing crash-landed and we couldn’t use the airport. We had to use trains, planes and automobiles to get them off, eventually going to Luton and hiring a private aircraft to get them to the resort. It was an expensive trip. BA gave us a refund, but it didn’t quite cover the cost of a private jet.

What’s the best trip you’ve been on?

I think Mumbai is the most fascinating place. I went on a tour of local areas to see how they use mobile phones. We found a whole family, including two grandchildren and four children, in one room and they’d traded in their fridge for a mobile phone, because it was so important to them to be able to communicate and do business.

And the worst?

Never say never, but I’ve got no desire to go back to Frankfurt. It seemed a bit bland.

How do you get into the office?