First Aberdeen drivers given batons

First Aberdeen drivers Andrew Ballantyne and Shane Mitchell have been gifted their own commemorative Commonwealth Games batons in a surprise ceremony by the company’s MD. The drivers were official Batonbearers for the Commonwealth Games, carrying the baton through Aberdeen as part of the nationwide relay last year and had no memento of their day.
Managing Director, David Phillips, was made aware that they had nothing to mark their involvement in the relay and managed to obtain the batons after a search. He said, ‘When someone represents First in such an exceptional way I think they deserve some proper recognition and I am delighted we were able to achieve that in this case as it’s the very least we could do.’

Shane, a First driver of four years who was selected to carry the Queen’s Baton after saving a customers’ life, said, ‘I had no idea what it was about and my stomach was churning. I honestly thought I was in some sort of trouble. When Andrew and I walked into reception, David just said “here you go boys, these are for you, congratulations they’re very much well deserved” and handed each of us a box. I was almost speechless.’
Fellow Driver Andrew said, ‘I was a bit concerned when I got the call to go to a meeting with the MD and had no idea what it was about. But when he presented me with the baton I was really surprised and pleased. Being one of the Queen’s Baton’s Relay Batonbearers was a huge honour and now I’ve got a permanent reminder of an amazing day. It is sitting on a display unit in my dining room and looks great.’