The organisers of the UK Coach Awards (UKCA) have announced Allan Edmondson has accepted the post of chairman.
Currently working as head of bus and coach services at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), Allan has spent all his working life in the transport and travel businesses, starting from school at 16 with Ribble in Preston as a traffic trainee. He worked for National Travel in Sheffield and Manchester, Buddens in Hampshire and Len Wright Travel in Manchester. He was part of the management buyout team at NBC-owned Wessex of Bristol, and then ran his own travel business.
He joined the CPT in 1996, where he was instrumental in launching and managing Coach Marque. He joined the ODA in 2006.
UKCA director Jamie Cash said: “Allan will bring to the Awards his wide experience of coaching and coach tourism, and his long experience of promoting excellence and good practice through the Coach Marque scheme.”
In stepping down as chairman, Derek Phillips, co-founder of the awards and who remains a director, congratulated and welcomed Allan. He said: “The scene is now set for the scheme to enter a new phase in its quest to be the leading award in coach tourism. It is already proving a worthy successor to the highly regarded CBW Coach Awards.”
