The award ceremony returned to London’s Troxy for an afternoon which highlighted some of the good work being undertaken across the industry despite the difficulties faced by the bus sector in the current climate
North West municipal Blackpool Transport is celebrating after winning the UK Bus Operator of the Year Award at the UK Bus Awards, held at Troxy in London on 15 November for the first time in three years after a pandemic-induced hiatus, and hosted by BBC presenter Jane Hill. The company also took home the Gold Award in the Top Shire Operator category, before seeing off competition from near neighbour Rotala-owned Diamond Bus North West and Hertfordshire-based Uno to win the top accolade in the grand prix competition which puts the winners of the Top City, Top Shire and Top Independent Operator awards against one another for the top award.
Blackpool’s win followed a pause by the industry awards scheme over the last two years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but 2022 saw people, projects and bus operators once again come together in
London to compete for the top spot across 22 categories at the first in-person presentation ceremony held since 2019. The event proved to be the perfect birthday present for Nottingham City Transport driver Jonathan Smallman, who took the gold in the Top National Bus Driver: The Chris Moyes Memorial Award category, marking the fourth time a bus driver from the council-owned bus company has won the gold at a UK Bus Awards ceremony.
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Oh her home turf in the capital, Go-Ahead London’s Koli Begum enthusiastically took to the stage to receive gold in the Luke Rees-Pulley Award for Top London Bus Driver category, and there was more good news for the London operator as its Putney garage received gold in the London Bus Garage of the Year category.
There were celebrations aplenty for Stagecoach, which took seven of the top gold awards. Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire’s Barrow depot was named winner of the gold award for Top National Bus Depot, sponsored by Integrated Solutions, and Stagecoach East took gold in the Supporting the Environment category, sponsored by CitySwift, for its ‘Big Switch Off’ campaign. Meanwhile, Lesley Hester of Stagecoach Manchester proved that not all heroes wear capes when she won the coveted gold in the Unsung Heroes category, sponsored by Backhouse Jones.
In the Young Manager category, Hayley Russell from FlixBus UK took the gold ahead of silver award winner Zachary McAskill from Stagecoach Manchester. The bronze in that category went to Stagecoach London engineer Ben Houghton. Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe, Managing Director of Uno, was the gold winner of the Leader of the Year award, a category in which Stagecoach South East boss Joel Mitchell took silver, with the bronze award going to Samantha Teggart of Abellio London Bus.
Another major group which had some notable successes was Transdev, which took golds in the Buses for Pleasure and Culture Change categories. The Harrogate-based firm also took silver awards in the Marketing, Partnering for Delivery and Supporting the Customer Experience categories.
Go North East took home a gold award recognising its marketing and communication efforts, and specifically its ‘Jobs with Real Purpose’ recruitment campaign, which focused on attracting people to join the firm’s drive into a greener future. The firm also took a silver award in the ‘Culture Change,’ ‘Buses and the Community’ and ‘Buses for Pleasure’ categories, impressing the judges with the amount of money raised for charity during the pandemic through its ‘One Team GNE’ colleague initiative. Commercial Director Stephen King said: “It’s great to accept these awards and for our team to be recognised for the hard work that they do day in, day out, to serve our communities. Our ‘Jobs with Real Purpose’ campaign has continued to fill up our driving school, with over 60 applications some weeks, and short-notice on-the-day cancellations have now vastly reduced in number.”
Carla Stockton-Jones, Managing Director of Stagecoach, which left the event with the most trophies across its UK-wide operations, said: “At such a challenging time for our customers and the bus sector, it’s great to see the fantastic recognition for the hard work of Stagecoach Bus teams around the country. We have a fantastic team of committed people who are proud to serve their customers and local communities and these awards reflect this hard work and professionalism for everyone in the Stagecoach family.
“It is great to have such a range of award wins, recognising all the hard work our people do from work in the community, to engineering, supporting the environment and culture change as well as being recognised as top shire operators and top national bus depots. A huge congratulations to all of this year’s UK Bus Award winners.”
The company’s Oxford Tube service also took home an award in the Top Express Coach Service category. Rachel Geliamassi, Managing Director of Oxford Tube, added: “Stagecoach is extremely proud to run the Oxford Tube service and to do so well at these prestigious awards is a huge honour. Our teams work incredibly hard to provide an excellent service and, with an operating rate of 99%, on a service that runs up to every 10 minutes, I think that’s something to celebrate. Huge congratulations to all involved.”
Transdev took home a number of awards, including the Buses for Pleasure prize, sponsored by CBW, for its ‘Greetings from Yorkshire’ strategic marketing campaign, aimed at changing outdated perceptions of bus travel and wooing sceptical car drivers and leisure customers onto its buses.
Transdev CEO Alex Hornby said: “All 1,400 of our amazing people have the right to these awards – I’m absolutely delighted and very proud of every one of them. I’m especially pleased that the awards judges have recognised The Transdev Spirit, which sums up our way of working – we talk, we listen and we make amazing things happen.
“All the team at The Academy, our network of people development centres, have worked flat out this year as we respond to an industry-wide shortage of bus drivers with a compelling offer focused on those who’ve successfully changed career to attract new people to join our teams. As our posters say: ‘we did it, so can you.’
“The UK Bus Awards are all about celebrating the talent, pride, and expertise across our entire industry. We’ve built a national reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative and successful transport operators, and throughout the unprecedented challenges of the last few years we’ve placed our customers at the heart of all we do. We’re very lucky to have such a talented team of people who absolutely deserve this recognition as the nation’s finest.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Chair of the UK Bus Awards Alan Millar said: “After a tumultuous couple of years as a result of the pandemic, it’s fantastic to see the dedication, creativity and excellence of the UK bus industry have not diminished. We are particularly pleased to have celebrated the best in the business, from small, family-owned businesses to the very large multinational transport groups, including several who entered the scheme for the very first time.
“We’re honoured to have been able to recognise and celebrate the industry’s successes, achievements, innovations, dedication and sheer brilliance. All those celebrating today should feel proud that they have played their part in helping to deliver a first-class experience for bus passengers across the UK. From everyone at the UK Bus Awards, we would like to say a huge congratulations to everyone involved.”
UK Bus Awards 2022 Winners
Bus and the Community sponsored by Heathrow
Winner, Gold Award: The Friendship Bus, Stagecoach South East
Winner, Silver Award: Go North East
Winner, Bronze Award: Sam’s Wellbeing on Wheels, Stagecoach East Scotland
Finalist: Bus Depot on Weston Street, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Electric Bus Viewing, RATP Dev Transit London
Finalist: Ensignbus
Finalist: Forever Manchester, Stagecoach Manchester
Buses for Pleasure sponsored by Coach & Bus Week
Winner, Gold Award: Greetings from Yorkshire, Transdev
Winner, Silver Award: Toon Tour, Seasider X11 and the X75, Go North East
Winner, Bronze Award: Explore the Lakes by Bus, Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire
Finalist: 575A, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Clipper Cabriolet, First Eastern Counties
Finalist: Exmoor Coaster, First South West
Finalist: Skegness Seasiders, Stagecoach East Midlands
Culture Change
Winner, Gold Award: The Transdev Spirit, Transdev
Winner, Silver Award: One Team GNE, Go North East
Winner, Bronze Award: Safety Strategy Forum, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Learning and Development Team, Abellio London Bus
Finalist: Let’s talk equality, diversity and inclusion, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Service Delivery Team, Stagecoach South East
Engineer of the Year sponsored by IRTE
Winner, Gold Award: Jamie Stockton, Stagecoach Manchester
Winner, Silver Award: Craig Mills, Stagecoach London
Winner, Bronze Award: Mick Branigan, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Darren Bull, RATP Dev Transit London
Leader of the Year sponsored by Bus & Coach Buyer
Winner, Gold Award: Jim Thorpe, Uno
Winner, Silver Award: Joel Mitchell, Stagecoach South East
Winner, Bronze Award: Samantha Teggart, Abellio London Bus
Finalist: Bill Daly, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Ken Fennell, Abellio London Bus
London Bus Garage of the Year sponsored by Transport for London
Winner, Gold Award: Putney, Go-Ahead London
Winner, Silver Award: Bow, Stagecoach London
Winner, Bronze Award: Brixton, Arriva London
Finalist: Beddington, Abellio London Bus
Finalist: Lea Interchange, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Uxbridge, Metroline
Luke Rees-Pulley Award for Top London Bus Driver sponsored by The Luke Rees-Pulley Charitable Trust and TfL
Winner, Gold Award: Koli Begum, Go-Ahead London
Winner, Silver Award: Wolfgang Chindamo, Metroline
Winner, Bronze Award: Domingos Goncalves, RATP Dev Transit London
Finalist: Aliya Aleskerova, Metroline
Finalist: Kellie Heard, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Nimish Jamnadas, RATP Dev Transit London
Finalist: Mohamed Maow, RATP Dev Transit London
Finalist: Porpin Owusu, Metroline
Marketing sponsored by Coach & Bus 23
Winner, Gold Award: Jobs with Real Purpose, Go North East
Winner, Silver Award: Transformation at TeamPennine, Transdev
Winner, Bronze Award: Cornwall Bus Fares Pilot Launch, Cornwall Council
Finalist: A Day in the Life series, Stagecoach South East
Finalist: Saving Money for Salford, Diamond Bus North West
Partnering for Delivery: The Peter Huntley Memorial Award
Winner, Gold Award: Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme, First West Yorkshire and partners
Winner, Silver Award: The Freeway Approach, Transdev and Harrogate BID
Winner, Bronze Award: Analyse Bus Open Data, ito World
Finalist: Leicester Enhanced Bus Partnership, Leicester Bus Partnership
Finalist: Nottingham Contactless, Nottingham City Transport and partners
Finalist: Transport for Cornwall, Cornwall Council and partners
ROSCO Award for Contribution to Safer Driving sponsored by ROSCO
Winner, Gold Award: Intelligent Speed Assistance, Stagecoach East and Volvo Bus
Winner, Silver Award: Tailored Ticketer Road Restriction Alerts, Ticketer and Reliance Motor Services
Winner, Bronze Award: Safety Strategy Forum, Stagecoach London
Services to the Bus Industry sponsored by Passenger Transport
Winner, Gold Award: Peter Crichton
Supporting the Customer Experience sponsored by Tracsis
Winner, Gold Award: Push Messaging, Grant Palmer
Winner, Silver Award: Sky Class, Transdev
Winner, Bronze Award: Freeflow, Oxford Bus Company
Finalist: Flexible Contactless Capping, Brighton & Hove and Metrobus
Finalist: Cornwall Bus Fares Pilot, Cornwall Council
Finalist: Ticketing and Partnerships, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Nottingham Contactless, Nottingham City Transport and partners
Supporting the Environment sponsored by CitySwift
Winner, Gold Award: Big Switch off, Stagecoach East
Winner, Silver Award: Electrifying Caledonia, First Glasgow
Winner, Bronze Award: Biggest Zero Emission Park & Ride Fleet, First York
Finalist: New Vehicles for Manchester, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Zero Emission Project, Translink
Finalist: Nottingham’s Green Euro Vl Fleet, Nottingham City Transport
Top Express Coach Operation sponsored by Volvo
Winner, Gold Award: Oxford Tube
Winner, Silver Award: RailAir 1 and 2
Top National Bus Depot sponsored by Integrated Solutions
Winner, Gold Award: Barrow, Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire
Winner, Silver Award: Portree, Stagecoach North Scotland
Winner, Bronze Award: St Andrews, Stagecoach East Scotland
Top National Bus Driver: The Chris Moyes Memorial Award sponsored by Personal Group
Winner, Gold Award: Jonathan Smallman, Nottingham City Transport
Winner, Silver Award: Darren Dalton, Preston Bus
Winner, Bronze Award: Gurnam Singh, Stagecoach West
Finalist: Ama Adae-Bosmpra, Uno
Finalist: Grzegorz Ranis, Uno
Top City Operator sponsored by Init Innovations
Winner, Gold Award: Diamond Bus North West
Winner, Silver Award: Abellio London Bus
Top Independent Operator
Winner, Gold Award: Uno
Winner, Silver Award: Ensignbus
Winner, Bronze Award: Grant Palmer
Top Shire Operator sponsored by Ticketer
Winner, Gold Award: Blackpool Transport
Winner, Silver Award: Stagecoach East Scotland
Finalist: Stagecoach East
UK Bus Operator of the Year sponsored by Gallagher and QBE Insurance
Winner, Gold Award: Blackpool Transport
Winner, Silver Award: Diamond Bus North West
Winner, Bronze Award: Uno
Unsung Heroes sponsored by Backhouse Jones
Winner, Gold Award: Lesley Hester, Stagecoach Manchester
Specially Commended: Aafreeda Merican, Abellio London Bus
Specially Commended: Kolawole ‘Kola’ Obasa, Metroline
Specially Commended: Glenn Oldman, Stagecoach London
Specially Commended: Louise Sills, Stagecoach South East
Specially Commended: Steph Smith, Diamond Bus North West
Specially Commended: James Third, Stagecoach South East
Young Manager of the Year
Winner, Gold Award: Hayley Russell, FlixBus
Winner, Silver Award: Zachary McAskill, Stagecoach Manchester
Winner, Bronze Award: Ben Houghton, Stagecoach London
Finalist: Daniel Bowden, Stagecoach East Midlands
Finalist: Thomas Calderbank, Diamond Bus North West
Finalist: Michelle Doyle, Stagecoach West
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