• Praise for outstanding UK Bus apprentices
PERTH, Scotland, 2014-10-9 — /Travel PR News/ — Stagecoach’s top UK Bus apprentices have been recognised at the company’s 10th annual Apprentice of the Year Awards.
Nine bus engineering apprentices were awarded for their outstanding performance at a ceremony at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in Manchester. The winners received cash prizes and individual trophies and tools supplied by event sponsors ADL, Optare, the Society of Operations Engineers, Roadcrew and QA Supplies.
Stuart McMaster from Stagecoach West Scotland was awarded first place in the third year apprentice category, sponsored by Optare. James Thornborrow from Stagecoach London took second place and Ian Dyer from Stagecoach East Midlands, was awarded third place.
ADL sponsored the year two awards with Stagecoach Yorkshire apprentice Sam Harris receiving the first place award. Sam was also previously the winner of the year one award. Kyle Stewart from Stagecoach North Scotland and Christopher Stobbs from Stagecoach North East were awarded second and third places respectively.
Winner of the year one category, sponsored by the Society of Operations Engineers, was Michael Creed from Stagecoach South, with Daniel Poole from Stagecoach London in second place and Ben Dawson from Stagecoach South West in third.
29 tool prizes provided by QA Supplies and Roadcrew were awarded for outstanding achievements in categories including depot vote, peer vote, end of block test results.
Dorothy Hermiston, Stagecoach UK Bus Deputy Training and Development Manager said: “This year’s winners have excelled themselves and set an exceptionally high standard over the past 12 months and they thoroughly deserve their awards.
“The Stagecoach apprentice scheme is widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive in the bus industry and it is vital to the future success of our business. We are delighted to have such skilled people within our ranks which is great news, not only for Stagecoach, but also for the millions of passengers who travel on our buses day in, day out.”
Stagecoach currently employs 168 apprentices across its UK Bus operations.
For further information on Stagecoach UK Bus visit www.stagecoachbus.com
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com
Notes to Editors:
Stagecoach Group
• Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The Group employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, train, and tram services.
• Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators with around 8,000 buses and coaches. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach’s buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Group’s business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates between around 60 towns and cities across the UK.
• Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
• Stagecoach also operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,900 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. Megabus.com links around 130 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter and transit services, contracted bus services, charters, sightseeing tours and a small number of school bus services.