Transdev Amazing Awards
Our annual celebration of our top performing colleagues.
They’re people with pride and passion for delivering our best service to thousands of our customers across the North of England – and every year, we salute the finest from our 10 companies in Yorkshire and Lancashire at our unique Amazing Awards.
Hosted by former Heavyweight Champion – Frank Bruno, alongside BBC Look North legend Harry Gration as our Master of Ceremonies, this year’s Amazing Awards was an evening of entertainment and celebration for our teams and their families as their guests.
Held at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, colleagues are recognised across nine categories, each one celebrating the pinnacle of outstanding customer service or high individual and team performance.
Nominations are made by colleagues and customers in the months leading up to the event, and then judged by a combination of mystery travellers, independent industry experts and our senior leadership team.
The winners each receive a cash prize and trophy, with the hotly contested Driver of the Year award receiving the Pride of the North cup and £1,000 spending money.
Transdev CEO Alex Hornby says:
"I am so proud of what my colleagues achieve every day, and our Amazing Awards were created to ensure we recognise those exceptional individuals who earn the very best feedback from our customers and their peers.
"Our company is seen as one of the leading lights in our vast and competitive industry only because of the efforts and pride in our teams right across the North. We believe in three things – employing people who are happy to work with us, serving people who are proud to be our customers, and creating a business which is innovative and successful.
"We’re proud to celebrate everything that’s good about our amazing people who deliver the highest standard of service for our customers. Our Amazing Awards are our way of celebrating their skill and passion for delivering our signature brand of customer care, every single day.”
Let's take a look at our most recent winners
Eco Champion – Maruisz Losinski for York/Malton
Our driver Mariusz Losinski won the Eco Champion award that sees the drivers with the leading telematics scores from each depot compete for a prize celebrating the highest performing, most environmentally conscious and safe driver from across Transdev.
Lifetime Star – Tim Alway for Keighley
This award is for appreciating the many long-serving colleagues we are blessed with, the candidates are singled out for their consistency of performance and continued efforts, day after day, to offer their best. Tim Alway – always there for our customers! As a highly experienced and long-serving driver with our Keighley team, Tim manages to combine his driving with caring for is 24- year-old disabled son and excels at both. Tim’s colleagues in Keighley all agree that he is always dependable, reliable and fully committed to his role with us.
Lifetime Star – Highly Commended – Amanda Clarke for Team Pennine
Amanda has been with Team Pennine and its predecessors for over 20 years, having joined the team at Huddersfield’s Waterloo depot as a cleaner in 1999 before becoming a driver. After we launched Team Pennine last July, Amanda became a relief driving instructor, and now shares her skills and experience with newcomers to Team Pennine.
Team of the Year – York CitySightseeing
In a company packed with 1,400 people, team work matters. This award recognises how great individual talents come together to create exceptional results and understanding of a share goal.
A mostly new team came together in 2021 to build back our York sightseeing tour operation better than ever – and they smashed it, achieving the tour’s best year ever! Friendly and courteous drivers, informative and entertaining tour guides and dedicated sales teams together sold over 50,000 tickets and generated sales worth over £600,000!
Hero of the Year – David Burke for Rosso
We’ve got many great people who do amazing things, but the shortlisted heroes have proven their determination to go the extra mile when the situation demanded it. David was driving one of our Rosso buses through the Nangreave area of Bury when we noticed a man in some distress on the parapet of a bridge. In a matter of moments, David was alongside the man, talking gently to him to gain his confidence. Police officers arrived at the scene, and with David’s help, led the man to safely.
Rising Star – Craig Barlow for Rosso
This category looked for an exceptional colleague who, despite being with us for a short time, has impressed and who we will expect to progress to even greater things. Craig is one of our talented Duty Managers and works at the Rochdale depot. He has lent a hand to many new projects, usually in addition to his normal day to day role, including the mobilisation of TeamPennine and the new Ribble Country contracts. As part of our StepUP programme, he has recently studied hard to successfully gain his Management CPC qualification.
Engineer of the Year – Robert Brigg for The Keighley Bus Company
Often the unsung heroes of the business, our engineers truly help us keep the wheels turning. We have some exceptional talents in our garages and this award singles out the best. Keeping the wheels turning safely is always top priority for Robert, with the attention to detail that stems from his dedication to the highest engineering standards. His colleagues say he always tries to help, no matter what the issue – if Robert can do it, he always will. In their words “he’s always here and is always positive”.
Depot of the Year - The Keighley depot team
All Transdev teams competed together over a wide range of criteria where the judges look at the raw performance statistics, as well as taking into account year on year improvements in each individual area. It’s a tough challenge to come out on top when so many areas are being considered, from reliability and cost management to customer satisfaction. As a company, Keighley came out on top and impressed the judges with their work throughout what was another difficult year.
Customer Choice Award – Keith Renshaw for The Harrogate Bus Company
We asked our customers to tell us their favourite drivers, along with the reasons why. Keith has made our Saturday DalesBus 559 route between Harrogate & Skipton his own snice its launch last May. The scenic journey is popular with walkers and sightseers, all of whom agree that Keith’s friendly welcome (aided by a dip into his on-board toffee tin) is what makes it so special.
Driver of the Year – Kevin Hulbert for The Blackburn Bus Company
This award is for the very best of the best. They are judged on a range of disciplines from the smartness of their uniform to a driving style that means it’s comfortable for all passengers. Kevin is one of those people who always gets the job done, and only ever attracts positive attention from his managers and colleagues. He has never been off sick in over 20 years of service with us and was accident and incident free for the entirety of 2021! He’s an all-round great guy to work with and all of his managers praise him for his professionalism.
Driver of the Year – Runner up - David Slavik
It clearly matters to David that his customers enjoy a safe, smooth journey and get where they were going. He is characterised by perfectly judged customer service, with a polite greeting and farewell for customers who know where they're going, but patience and good humour with those who needed more help.
Judith Lofthouse & Pat Casey – Driver of the Year – Highly commended
A previous finalist in the Customer Choice category in 2020, Rochdale-based Judith is an ever-popular figure at team Rosso. Judith’s first-class customer care and her driving ability are renowned among regulars on her bus, while her colleagues say she helps anyone and everyone, while supporting other drivers as a consummate team player.
Pat Casey is one of our most reliable drivers. He goes above and beyond in his duties to assist the company and is always on time for work – looking smart, and with a smile on his face! He is well recognised amongst the team and is described as having a superb attitude, and a pleasure to work with.