Luton is a city and unitary Authority in Bedfordshire in central England near the Chiltern Hills with a population of 186,000. The county also includes towns Houghton Regis and Dunstable.

Luton is the home of the headquarters of Vauxhall Motors who are a subsidy of the GM brand and produce the popular Opal car. Founded in 1857 the company were hugely popular in the 1970s into the 1990s when cut price Eastern models flooding the UK market led to a decline in demand. New models such as the Corsa, Vectra and the Ford Focus have led to a revival of fortunes in recent years. Residents of the town are known as ‘hatters’ due to the tradition for hat making which still remains as an employer to this day.

Other significant employers include: BAE Systems, Siemens AG, Whitbread, Thompsons Holidays, Easyjet, Anritsu, Astrzeneca and Ernest & Young.

University of Bedfordshire was created when the University of Luton and De Montford University were merged in 2006 and has over 14,000 students. Both institutions were given University status in 1992 having previously been polytechnic colleges.

London Luton Airport opened in 1938 and is the fifth largest (by total passengers, 9.9 million per year) in the UK and is placed 30 miles from London and near the M1 motorway. The main terminal was given a £40 million revamp in 1998 opened by HRH the Queen.