Every year we hold our annual awards, where we celebrate all the amazing things our team do.

But we're not just there to have a good time. It is important for us to celebrate and reward those members of our team that have excelled in their job and have gone that extra mile. 

Our success is not just a result of our hard working drivers, it's also driven by talented young apprentices, dedicated engineers, committed admin staff and IT whizz kids who all play their part in steering us in the right direction.

The really good service awards ceremony was hosted by radio presenter Andy Miller and featured as star speaker the Celebrity Masterchef 2023 winner and ‘Go Compare’ singer Wynne Evans.

An “absolutely faultless” bus driver has won the top prize in trentbarton’s 2023-24 really good service awards.

 

This year's winners include:

Driver of the Year - Robert Green

Robert, who drives the red arrow between Derby and Nottingham, was judged the best of the best, winning Driver of the Year at the awards ceremony at Nottingham Trent University. The award was sponsored by Alexander Dennis.

Robert, 50, who lives in Kegworth, beat all the other winners of trentbarton’s driver of the month competitions from 2023-24 to bag a big shiny cup, an extra day off work every year and £1,500 which he generously donated to trentbarton’s charity of the year Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.

Robert, who has been driving trentbarton buses for 13 years, said: “There’s a lot of great drivers at trentbarton. I really enjoy my job, the best thing about it is the customers.”

The mystery customer judge said Robert achieved a perfect score and won driver of the month twice during the year, each time scoring best out of 200 mystery audits.

 

Hero of the Year - Dan Jackson

 

Dan, who received two commendations in quick succession. Dan, 38, from Nottingham, sprang into action when an elderly customer collapsed whilst waiting for a bus in Nottingham city centre.

Dan administered first aid and convinced the customer to seek further medical attention. Her husband was very grateful for Dan’s quick-thinking actions. Dan was further praised by the Police for helping them locate a vulnerable missing person.

Dan, a Lead Driver in Nottingham, said: “It’s a nice feeling to win this award but I think everyone would have done what I did in the same situation.”

 

Colleague Choice - Eric Clarke

 

Eric, works as one of our Lead Drivers, based at Langley Mill.

The award was sponsored by Personal Group.

The judges said: “Eric is quite the character and is well known for his jokes. Eric helps his colleagues immensely in his role as Lead Driver in the traffic office and many of them said they would be unable to do their job without him.”

Voted as winner by the trentbarton team, Eric, 55, who lives in Brinsley, said: “It is fantastic but also humbling that colleagues have gone to the trouble of voting for me.”

 

Customer Choice - Joanne Rich

skylink Nottingham driver Joanne won back-to-back Customer Choice titles after again securing the votes of her passengers. The award was sponsored by Ticketer and all three finalists were women.

Joanne, 38, who lives in Clifton, received glowing praise from customers, with the judges saying: “We found it hard not to be impressed by the sheer volume sent in for Joanne once again.

“Not only that but the content of the nominations was extremely hard to ignore too. Almost every nomination said that Joanne made their day whenever she was behind the wheel of their bus.”

Joanne said: “To win twice means a huge amount. I love the work I do and the people I meet, especially my regulars. It looks like they all voted for me.”

 

Unsung Hero - Simon Craggs

trentbarton’s IT Manager Simon Craggs, from Newthorpe, who was nominated by multiple people within the management team as someone who daily goes above and beyond, including on huge projects such as ticketing, MANGO, the website and the roll out of new phone systems.

Simon, 38, said: “This means a lot, I love working for trentbarton.”

Tom Morgan, group managing director of buses at trentbarton’s parent group Wellglade, said: “Simon is unflappable. Whatever day, whatever time, if you need something sorting, he will do it. A consummate professional in every way.”

 

Engineering Team Member of the Year - Jordan Riddings

The award was sponsored by PSV Transport Systems.

The judges said that Jordan, a former Apprentice of the Year winner who has worked at trentbarton since he was 17, “has gone from strength to strength as a skilled engineer and has had a fantastic year”.

Jordan, 27, who lives in Derby and works at the Derby engineering depot, said: “It’s lovely to be recognised and nice to know that you are appreciated.”

 

Apprentice of the Year - Owen Pritchard 

Owen, 21, who lives in Bilborough and works at Manvers Street in Nottingham. The award was sponsored by GTG Training College.

Owen joined trentbarton as an apprentice in 2021 and said: “It’s great to be noticed for what I do for people.”

 

Brand of the Year - indigo

Team Leader Craig Sheppard said: “It’s amazing to win. The team works ever so hard, going above and beyond every day to do everyone proud.”