Heroic Contributions Winners – Derek Milliken (Scotland), Darren Telford (Manchester, Midlands and South Yorkshire) and Jakub Malicki (East of England)
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First Bus

First Bus hosts inaugural ‘Our Way’ awards to celebrate frontline colleagues

Bus operator First Bus recently hosted its inaugural ‘Our Way’ Awards event to recognise and celebrate frontline colleagues across the business.

Colleagues gathered at London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel on Wednesday 17th April, where TV presenter Steph McGovern, presented the awards to the well-deserved winners.

The awards involved a robust nomination and shortlisting process, comprising two rounds of judging by independent panels and chaired by First Bus Managing Director, Janette Bell.

The first four categories focused on colleagues that embody the company’s ‘Our Way’ values – Always Care, Do What’s Right, Shape the Future and Succeed Together.

An additional Heroic Contributions category was added during the judging process to recognise colleagues who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep their customers and the public safe.

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First Bus Chief People Officer, Kevin Green, said: “The Our Way Awards are the latest part of the wider business transformation here at First Bus, as we strive to create a culture where our colleagues feel valued, supported and listened to.

"Putting our people first and recognising the fantastic work they do for our customers each and every day is crucial.

“As the backbone of our business, it’s important we take the time to celebrate their success and give them the credit they deserve for going above and beyond. A huge congratulations to our winners and those shortlisted – they should be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”

The 2024 'Our Way' award winners were:

  • Always Care – Kerry Turner (First Travel Solutions)
  • Do What’s Right – Emma Murphy (First Travel Solutions)
  • Shape the Future – Leicester Electrification Team (Manchester, Midlands & South Yorks – Winner), Chloe Way (Specialist Passenger Solutions – Highly Commended)
  • Succeed Together – Marsh Street Operations Team (Wales & West)
  • Learning Excellence Award – Hasan Girach (Manchester, Midlands & South Yorks - Winner), Chloe Moncrieff-Jury (South & South West - Highly Commended), Morgan Bond (Wales & West - Highly Commended)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award – Ian Humphreys (Manchester, Midlands & South Yorks)
  • Most Improved Small Depot – Worcester (Winner), Overtown (2nd place), Cymru East (3rd place)
  • Most Improved Medium Depot – Portsmouth (Winner), Dorset (2nd place), Chelmsford (3rd place)
  • Most Improved Large Depot – Bath (Winner), Aberdeen (2nd place), Cornwall (3rd place)
  • Heroic Contributions – Derek Milliken (Scotland), Darren Telford (Manchester, Midlands & South Yorks) and Jakub Malicki (East of England)

ENDS

Notes to editors

About First Bus

At First Bus, we are on a mission to grow bus usage. We will get behind initiatives that move people out of cars and onto bus.

We’re one of the UK’s largest bus operators, delivering over a million passenger journeys every week for the communities we serve.

First Bus serve 25% of the residential population of the UK with its local bus services, which is over 15% of the market share outside of London.

Transforming our business for the better, we’re putting our people and customers at the heart of all we do.

We’re all about making journeys easier for our customers, which is why we were the first national bus operator to rollout Tap On, Tap Off payment technology across our entire UK fleet of 4500 buses.  Our First Bus app has also been voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators. 

First Bus is committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035. By the end of the Spring 2024, 15% of our will fleet will comprise of Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs).

We’re passionate about giving back to the communities we serve, which is why we’re helping local businesses to progress their own decarbonisation journeys with access to our charging hubs while our buses are on the road.

We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland, Specialist Passenger Solutions, First Travel Solutions, York Pullman Bus Company and Ensignbus.  First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.  

Find more information on First Bus here: https://news.firstbus.co.uk/