Transport industry rewards management skills, talent and commitment

Managers at all levels in the UK’s public passenger transport industry were rewarded for their skills, talent and commitment at the Passenger Transport Management Awards ceremony held in London today (Friday).

Over 30 people at all levels from bus companies, rail operators and local authorities received prizes – winning awards in ten categories or receiving commendations for their work. The prizes were presented at London’s prestigious Dorchester Hotel by Peter Hendy, the Transport Commissioner for London and Chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport. The ceremony was compered by the BBC southern transport correspondent Paul Clifton.

The top prize was for Passenger Transport Professional 2008, which was awarded to managing director of train operator First ScotRail, Mary Grant. After devising FirstGroup’s winning bid for the franchise, Mary has gone on to deliver on the vision, and recently won a three year extension to the franchise from Transport Scotland. The runner-up, also from north of the border, was Neil Renilson, chief executive of Transport Edinburgh and Lothian Buses. Neil’s leadership has helped Lothian Buses to achieve the fastest growth outside London over the last decade, and to win several awards including UK Bus Operator of the Year in 2007.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Tony Depledge OBE, currently development director at transport group Arriva. After starting his career as a seasonal tram driver in Blackpool in the 1960s, Tony went on run Blackpool Transport, including the town’s iconic tramway, for 15 years from 1986. He has served as President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport and the Light Rail Transit Association, and is currently President of the European Passenger Transport Operators Association. 

Also rewarded for long and devoted service to the industry in the Unsung Heroes Award were:

• Mike Topping – who has worked for bus companies in North West England for almost 50 years, joining the industry in November 1958 and is currently Project Manager with Arriva North West and Wales.
• Paul Williams – who has spent a lifetime in the bus industry on the South Coast, joining originally in August 1965. For 20 years he has played a key role in the commercial success of Go-Ahead Group’s subsidiary company, the Brighton and Hove Bus & Coach Company.

The prize for Young Passenger Transport Professional, designed specially for managers under 35, was shared between three talented managers from around the country:

• Hiten Arnand from London bus operators Metroline
• James Higlett from Arriva Southern Counties
• Sarah Longair from Stagecoach West Scotland.

Other awards were presented for specialist skills in a variety of disciplines:

• Industry Ambassador
• The national prize went to Richard Brown, who has led Eurostar UK through the construction of the new High Speed 1 line and the move to St Pancras, for his tireless work as an advocate of high speed rail in the UK.
• The local prize went to Geraint Morgan of Arriva Trains Wales, whose tireless efforts have helped to tie Welsh local rail services more closely to the communities they serve.
• Innovation – Elaine Rosscraig of Stagecoach Group, for the award-winning “Where You Want To Be” sales campaign
• Marketing – Chloe Leach of Arriva Yorkshire for her working on relaunching Arriva’s network of bus services in West Yorkshire
• Project Leader – David George of Kent County Council for his outstanding work on the Kent Fastrack Bus Rapid Transit system
• Team Manager – Jeff Smith for his leadership at Transdev Keighley & District in West Yorkshire, where his role as Operations Director since 1991 has enabled the company to earn an award-winning and outstanding reputation

Award scheme organisers were specialist trade paper Transit magazine, with 83A Projects, the team that organises the highly successful UK Bus Awards.

Transit chairman Peter Stonham said, “Our new scheme is designed to cover the sector of the business which Transit magazine itself covers – namely the management and business of running public transport in all its guises.

“The awards have been designed to recognise the efforts that good quality managers have to make to ensure that the industry prospers, and that the services we provide are of the excellent standard they should be.

“As an industry, we need to offer the best possible showcase to the outside world, and I believe that all today’s prize winners have done just that.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The full list of winners appears below. Further details of the scheme and the winners can be found on the PTMA web site at www.ptmawards.co.uk.
2. Sponsors for the PTMA scheme were Arriva plc, FirstGroup plc, Go-Ahead Group plc, National Express Group plc, Stagecoach Group plc, The TAS Partnership and CBS Outdoor.
3. Transit magazine is one of the UK’s leading trade magazines for the passenger transport industry, providing fortnightly news, comment and analysis about bus, rail and rapid transit. For more information, see www.transitmagazine.co.uk.
4. The UK Bus Awards is an annual competition to recognise and reward excellence and good practice in all aspects of bus service planning, delivery and marketing. More information from www.ukbusawards.co.uk.