Bob Hind, managing director at Arriva Midlands, will step down at the end of July after 44 years in the bus industry, 28 of which were at managing director level.
Starting his career as a parcel boy with Crosville in 1968, he progressed to Midland Red in Leicester eight years later before moving into municipal operations with Leicester City Transport in 1981. He then led the employee buy-out of Derby City Transport (DCT) in 1989.
Bob returned to the North West following the British Bus acquisition of DCT in 1994, and after Arriva’s acquisition of MTL in 2000, he merged the MTL bus business into Arriva North West and also took control of Merseyrail for two years.
In 2007 he returned to his home in the Midlands, leading Arriva’s operations across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands. Bob oversaw the acquisition of Wardle Transport in 2010 and its subsequent expansion taking in the Staffordshire operations of D&G Coach and Bus. Bob will open a new Telford depot this spring.
Bob said: “The bus industry has been a big part of my life and it will be a wrench to leave it behind, but I always promised myself I would stop at 62 so my wife and I can enjoy a new phase of our life together, without timetables!”
Mike Cooper, Arriva UK Bus MD, said: “Bob has made an immense contribution to the passenger transport industry over many years, particularly to Arriva’s operations in both the North West and the Midlands. We will miss his straighttalking style and dry wit and wish him all the best for his retirement later this year.”
Arriva will make further announcements regarding the future leadership of Arriva Midlands in due course.
