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Arriva London awards evening recognises excellence

The Arriva London Valuing Excellence Awards 2010

Staff and invited guests from Arriva London gathered for The 2010 Arriva London Valuing Excellence Awards at the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden on October 6 to recognise the achievements and success shown by staff over the past 12 months.

Hosted by managing director, Bob Scowen, the event gave staff, family and friends the opportunity to meet and celebrate with their colleagues shortlisted for an award.

Opening proceedings Bob said: "There are a huge number of people at Arriva London who make a real contribution day in day out, but this event gives us the opportunity to recognise some of the great work and unsung heroes."

The six awards up for grabs were taken from nominations across Arriva London, with two extra awards chosen by Transport for London.

Gary Rockall receives award from Arriva London MD Bob ScowenGary Rockall, senior vehicle engineer from Croydon, was the first winner of the night when he picked up the 'Individual' award.

In a tribute to his efforts his nomination read: "Just shy of 40 years service and a third generation long serving 'busman' Gary has strived throughout his career for the highest professional standard in his work, training and developing his own skills and perhaps even more importantly encouraging others around him to do the same, especially those joining our business as trainees and apprentices.

"He has been a steadying influence throughout the many changes in our business and approaches his work today with the same enthusiasm as he did at the start of his career."
James Oulds receives award from Arriva London MD Bob Scowen
James Oulds, senior vehicle engineer based at Enfield garage won the prestigious 'Colleague of the Year' award.

This is special in that all nominations were made only by engineers and drivers across Arriva London and it was pleasing to note how many nominations were put forward.

One of his nominations from a driver at the garage said: "He treats all his colleagues with respect and courtesy and is keen to help others all he can providing a positive and seamless link between engineers and drivers; he is the boiler room man who ensures the captain can concentrate on driving the ship and he makes a real difference to the success of this garage."

Dave WilsonFormer schedules manager, Dave Wilson was rewarded with the 'Contribution to the London Bus Industry' award.

Dave joined London Transport at 55 Broadway long before local companies were formed and QSI’s were invented. Driver shortage was so great that separate schedules had to be produced for core services and supplementary ones for times when additional staff were available.

Times changed and he moved to Manor House to manage a team of staff which meant he had the job he had always wanted from a young age. Many of that initial team remain with Arriva London today. With a combined technical experience of well over 100 years they are evidence of Dave's enthusiasm, commitment and leadership.

Many of Arriva London's staff are involved in charitable work and this was reflected in the Kevin Ambrose receives award from Arriva London MD Bob Scowenexcellent nominations for the 'Social and Community' award which was won by driving instructor, Kevin Ambrose.

To take on the voluntary role, Kevin had to learn how to meet the needs of disabled people in an unfamiliar environment, obtain a qualification of Competence in Boat Management and commit to a minimum of 10 days volunteering on a specially designed Canal Boat every year; a commitment he has exceeded whilst working with the Canal Boat Project in Harlow.

Alan Ellis and Mick StrettenIn the bus industry safety is of course paramount and at Arriva London everyone takes on the responsibility towards maintaining and promoting safety.

The 'Safety Awareness' award recognises those who have gone beyond that level and found new and innovative ways to ensure our staff, passengers and the general public are safe.

This was won by engineering trainer, Alan Ellis and maintenance standards auditor, Mick Stretten for their work in producing engineering training and safety DVD's.

Not just relying on proven communication methods,  they took safety related training to those who need it in their place of work, making their nomination stand out even in the strong short list of nominees.

The route 38 conversion team picked up the award in the 'Team' category. In his summing up Clapton team, route 38 conversionmanaging director, Bob Scowen said: "A high profile and challenging project was set for this team and potentially many things could have gone wrong.

"However using excellent communication skills, a willingness to share problems and a constructive and innovative approach to finding solutions led to a successful outcome that ensured our business remained on track and the expectations of all our stakeholders were met; indeed the fruits of this teams labour are experienced everyday by passengers using this flagship route."

Norwood team route 176For the next two awards Arriva London had invited Transport for London to choose a garage and route to be recognised. These were presented by Peter Hendy, commissioner, Transport for London.
Terry Pye and James Johnson collect award on behalf of Lea Valley Garage
Based on their current performance and continued improvements the route 176 and Lee Valley garage were the proud winners.

Peter Hendy and Fred PurseA special tribute DVD was also broadcast to the audience to commemorate the 45 year working career of retired general manager, Fred Purse.

This was extra special as it came as a total surprise and featured special messages of good will from a number of his colleagues. A copy of this was then presented by Peter Hendy.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Individual Award

Shortlisted

Gary Rockall, senior vehicle engineer, Croydon (winner)
James Johnson, controller, Tottenham
Dave Chandler, driving instructor, Lea Valley
Joe Hernandez, driver, Edmonton

Team Award

Shortlisted

Route 38 conversion team (winner)
Barking GS team
Wood Green iBus team

Contribution to the London Bus Industry

Shortlisted

Falguni Rathod, Asst. management accountant
Dave Wilson, schedules, (winner)
Roy Heath, driver, Thornton Heath
George Spencer, driver, Brixton

Social & Community Award

Shortlisted

Terry Dalchow, garage supervisor, Norwood
Kevin Ambrose, driving instructor, Lea Valley (winner)
Croydon garage Charity Walkers

Safety Awareness Award

Shortlisted

Mike Trodden, Engineering Support Manager
Michael Collins, driver, Clapton
Alan Ellis engineering trainer and Mick Stretten, maintenance standards auditor (winner)

Colleague of the Year

Shortlisted

Mark Allen, engineer, Beddington Farm
Trevor White, driver Stamford Hill
James Oulds, senior vehicle engineer, Enfield (winner)
Nicholas Norman, driver, Clapton

Audience enjoying the Valuing Excellence Awards 2010

Published: Fri 8 Oct 2010Modified: Wed 20 Oct 2010Archived: Fri 3 Dec 2010

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