Network contractors recognised for their achievements
Coach firms from across the country have been recognised and commended for their hard work and excellence at the National Express Operator Awards night.
The UK’s largest coach operator handed accolades to thirteen coach operators that run services on the national coach network at the event held at the Windmill Village Hotel in Coventry last fortnight.
Among those awarded for their work during last year were Gloucester-based Bennett’s Coaches – winner of the overall Network Operator of the Year and the High Achiever Award, E Stott & Sons won the Best Fleet Award while Julia Humby, also of Bennett’s, won the Driver of the Year Award.
Excelsior Coaches scooped the Driving Out Harm (Safety Excellence) Award, Parks of Hamilton and South Gloucester jointly won the Community Contribution Award and Edwards won the prize for Best Operator of a fleet of 16 or more vehicles.
A further seven awards were handed out to operators for Sustained High Achievements.
National Express UK Coach Managing Director Tom Stables presented the winners with their trophies on stage during the evening.
He said: “We were once again highly impressed by the standards set by the winners while running their operations last year – with the bar being raised yet again. We rely on our partner operators to deliver excellence in order to meet the high standards that our customers expect and the quality we have seen underlines just how good the service is.”
During the evening a charity raffle raised nearly £1,000 which was donated to international development charity Transaid.
Gary Forster, Transaid’s Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that National Express operators have chosen to donate the proceeds from the charity raffle at their annual awards to Transaid. Every donation we receive helps us to continue our projects which save lives and reduce poverty for rural communities across Africa by providing them with better transport solutions.”
