Winners cheered at Pride Park
Ian takes £1,000 top title

Derby’s Pride Park resounded to cheers and applause as Langley Mill driver Ian Grebby was crowned Driver of the Year at our annual Really Good Service Awards. Ian regularly drives the Ilkeston-Stapleford-Nottingham 21 route.

In a celebration of top-flight customer service, all our Drivers of the Month for 2007, Commendation Winners, short-listed award winners and their guests came together at the Pride Park for the gala dinner and awards ceremony on Wednesday April 16th.  This year the event was hosted by ‘Catchphrase’ TV presenter Roy Walker.

Depot of the Year

For the second year running Nottingham’s Broadmarsh team took the title ‘Depot of the Year’ - judged on really good customer service right across the board. The award is sponsored by Belmont International, respected throughout the bus industry in the field of insurance and financial services. 

Outstanding Achievement

Next up was the Outstanding Achievement award, presented for customer service beyond the call of duty.

Highly commended - Michael Janjua of Broadmarsh.

Michael diverted his late night rainbow 5 and took a lady who had missed an earlier connection straight to her door.

Runner-up - Mick Howes from Buxton.

Mick fetched his own car to take two customers all the way to their destination (right through to Manchester Airport) after breaking down in Buxton late one winter’s night.

Winner - Matthew Shaw also from the award-winning Broadmarsh team.

Late one night, eagle-eyed Matthew spotted that a lady had just missed a rainbow 4 on the other side of the road in Sandiacre.  He stopped his bus, took her to the nearest taxi office and even found £20 from his own pocket to pay the fare.

Then it was on to the big prize, Driver of the Year.

Roy Walker invited all the Drivers of the Month to the stage for a rapturous round of applause. Then, a hush descended on Pride Park as the envelope-opening began.

Highly commended was Linda Morrell, who has been with trent barton for four years.  Based at Langley Mill, she is usually found at the wheel of the 23 and 27 town routes in Ilkeston.  She took the ‘Driver of the Month’ title twice during the year.

Runner-up was Jayne Phillips, who works from Sutton depot.  She drives on the nines between Derby and Mansfield and has been with the company since 2002.

The room erupted into applause as Roy Walker opened the final envelope and announced Ian Grebby as this year’s Driver of the Year

The Judges described Ian’s work in the most glowing terms; “This superb driver made every customer feel valued and welcome.  He found time for a friendly or helpful word with just about everyone, but still managed to provide a relaxing really smooth and punctual ride. This was a star performance in every way.”

Ian is no stranger to ‘Driver of the Month’ awards.  He was runner-up for the annual title four years ago, and was highly commended last year.

Commercial Director Ian Morgan, who handed over the prizes on the night, said: “This is a celebration of everything that we do to delight our customers.  No one underestimates how difficult a bus driver’s job is in completely unpredictable traffic – while at the same time doing everything in  their power to look after their customers.”

Ian Grebby’s prize is in three parts. As well as the Driver of the Year Award a holiday voucher for £1,000, Ian has also earned an extra day’s holiday with pay every year.

Direct Derby route’s losing battle against traffic
H1 will divert to miss jams

Worsening traffic congestion around Heanor is causing a re-think of the popular H1 Heanor to Derby route.

The proposal, set for the end of August, is for the Heanor-bound H1s, to take a shorter route around the back of Heanor Market Place to keep to time. And on the hourly leg to Alfreton, the plan is to take some H1s through Swanwick, rather than Somercotes.

H1 Brand Manager, Jay Keily commented;

“Customers are attracted to HI’s direct route as it’s so much more convenient than driving to Derby and cuts out the hassle of parking.

“But as we’re seeing more and more delays when turning in Heanor, we must find an easier route to keep us on time.

“This change will restore our timekeeping which we know is our customers’ top priority.  But it can only be achieved at a price: the quicker Heanor route will lose us the Tesco stop on the way in to Heanor.

“We'd far sooner not be making any changes at all, but without  bus priority measures to help keep vital bus links like the H1 running smoothly, it's a matter of damage limitation.  We are of course hammering that message home to local authorities”. 

Ruddington buses set to double
new Victoria and Market Square stops

From 27th July the popular ruddington connection is set to be doubled in frequency and extended to cover more city stops in Nottingham.  It will also make a new direct link to the Ruddington Fields Business Park.

With its direct route to the city and recently refurbished buses ruddington connection is such a popular choice for Ruddington residents that sometimes we don’t have enough room.  The doubling of the Monday to Friday frequency will enable us to keep growing this successful brand. The ruddington connection will also take a new route through the city centre opening up the Victoria Centre and Old Market Square to ruddington connection customers.

And the bonus is that workers at Ruddington Fields Business Park will for the first time be able to go direct from Nottingham, This new extension will also open up the park to workers across Nottingham who will be able to switch to the ruddington connection in the City Centre.

Brand Manager Keith Wright said:

“Everyone loves a success story – and the fact that ruddington connection has been doing so well that we can double the number of buses is fantastic news.

“I also know that the lack of parking and no direct bus from the centre of Nottingham has been holding us back the businesses at Ruddington Fields for some time. I’m delighted that we are working with Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council to forge a new direct link from the City Centre”

By bus to Hollywood

May 16th saw the opening of Cinema de lux at Westfield Derby. And it couldn’t be easier to get to by bus.

When Westfield Derby opened in October we provided extra evening buses for shoppers. Now there’s even more reason to use them. Cinema de lux not only offers 12 screens showing all the latest Hollywood movies but has a full service restaurant and bar for pre or post movie food and drinks. The cinema also has two extra special areas with leather seats providing first class comfort for movie-goers.

Commercial Manager Mark Greasley said:

“Cinema de lux is fantastic for Derby, and we are convinced that it will draw even more people into the city. With our network of routes and recently enhanced evening frequencies trent barton is in a great position to take people to the movies. It’s also nice to see a Cinema following our lead by investing in leather seats!!”

Driver of the Month
2008 contest in full swing

After the excitement of the recent really good service awards dinner this year’s Driver of the Year competition is starting to hot up.

February’s winner is Barry Allitt of Broadmarsh.  Barry is a team leader on our xprss and radcliffe line brands but actually took the title working his rest day on rainbow 5. Barry is seen here with both Keith Wright, Brand Manager for xprss & radcliffe line and Cherryl Holland Brand Manager rainbow 5. February also generated no fewer than 6 commendation winners; Nigel Oliver & Michael Bull at Broadmarsh, Andy Worthington &:Norman Sparrow from Langley Mill and Katrina Wallace and Michele Pizzuti of Sutton.

In March Jacqueline Smith took the title for Sutton. Jacqueline is a regular on connect and rainbow 3   She is seen here with Brand Manager Glenn Pearson. Commendations were won by Dianne Bull and Michael Smith at Derby, Glen Harrold at Broadmarsh and Tracey Reed at Langley Mill.

Arriva invests in Derby
“a good thing for public transport…”

Arriva, the majority bus operator in Derby, has recently announced an order for 59 new buses which will be used to upgrade many of its routes in the city.

trent barton Commercial Director Ian Morgan said;

 “It is good news that Arriva is updating its fleet in this way. Alongside the order we have placed for high-spec new buses this will present a powerful image of the bus to the people of Derby. That can only be a good thing for all those interested in the success of public transport.

“And at a time when fuel has never been so expensive, we hope it will also persuade people to travel into the city on a stylish new bus”

Anna Investigates
another trent barton first for the bus industry

Insurance Administrator Anna Blunden has achieved a nationally recognised qualification in accident investigation; the first person in the bus industry to do so.

Anna Blunden deals with insurance at our Heanor offices. She already handles most claims personally without the need to involve outside investigators ,but wanted to be able to do even more. With this in mind Anna studied for the Certificate of Incident, Fraud and Claims Investigation. This qualification is usually taken by those working for insurance companies or in law enforcement. It covers aspects such as taking witness statements, gathering evidence and writing reports to be used in court.

And in our next issue…. Fuel prices hit record high