Oxford Bus Group’s ‘Really Amazing’ staff celebrated
Staff at the Oxford Bus Group have been recognised at the company’s ‘Really Amazing Awards’.
Members of the teams at Oxford Bus Company, Thames Travel, Carousel Buses, City Sightseeing Oxford and Pulhams gathered to mark the successes of colleagues.
The highlight of the evening held at the Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, was celebrating the combined long service of 175 years by six colleagues. Oxford Bus Company drivers Edgar Tiburcio and Paul Tomlin clocked up 35 years’ service each and Sunil Vamadevan 30 years. Oxford Bus Company driver Andrew Barlow and Thames Travel driver George Walker and City Sightseeing Oxford tour guide Debbie Lowe were all rewarded for 25 years’ service. George’s award is the first ever 25-year milestone celebrated at Thames Travel, with the company having been founded in 1998.
Stores Manager, Lies Droueche, picked up the Above and Beyond Award this year for his work training colleagues, embedding new systems and working to ensure the business has the spare parts it needs to keep its growing fleet of buses and coaches on the road.
Jeff Gambie, Service Delivery Controller at Carousel Buses, scooped the Unsung Hero Award for his hard work in helping the business expand significantly, following the closure of Arriva’s High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots.
The A-Team Award was won by two teams jointly winning the award, celebrating the excellent teamwork delivered by Oxford Bus Company’s bus driver training team and HR team.
The bus driver training team consisting of Alan Hathaway, Alex Knox, Sam Garrard, Mark Bumann, Guy Powell, Simon Lal, Sarah Powell and Adam Richards successfully trained a record number of drivers this year. While the HR team of Catherine Mulholland, Simon Field, Zoe Smith and Hayley Mallet, worked together to underpin the Group’s continued growth resulting in welcoming a significant number of new colleagues, and ensuring the transition from Arriva to Carousel and Oxford Bus Company went smoothly for those affected by the other operator’s depot closures.
Rachel Murr, Thames Travel Driver and Relief Controller won the Customer Hero Award after receiving multiple colleague and customer nominations. She was recognised for her hard work and flexibility supporting the depot team and for her great communication with the customer services team.
Tom Sheppard received the Engineer of the Year Award recognising his excellent performance at Oxford Bus Company and commitment to being the best engineer he can be.
Matt Molyneux, Assistant Account at Pulhams won the Rising Star Award for his outstanding commitment and desire to develop his skills and Oxford Bus Company Assistant Operations Manager Marta Wodzinska scooped the Manager of the Year prize.
A gold, silver and bronze award for Star of the Year for 2024 was awarded, reflecting the high calibre of entries. Airline coach driver Oseas Nunes received the gold award, Oxford Bus Company driver Alice Elliott won silver and Airline coach driver Jake Saw received bronze.
“It was fantastic to celebrate our colleagues who have delivered really amazing work on a consistent basis” – Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director
Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, said: “It was fantastic to celebrate our colleagues who have delivered really amazing work on a consistent basis.
“It is our brilliant people that ensure we deliver a first-class service to our customers daily and they deserve to be celebrated. We also recognised our colleagues who have given a significant number of years’ service.
“There are so many unsung heroes within our group of businesses who do an excellent job, providing first class public service, and they should all be very proud.
“It was another significant year for the Oxford Bus Group in which we have invested in delivering continued improvements to our network and fleets to ensure bus and coach travel is as attractive and accessible as possible.”