There was a bumper crop of winners in the Reading Buses re-introduction of their popular Star of the Month accolade.
The scheme that rewards employees for doing something amazing, or for a consistently excellent performance, has been successfully brought back as part of the relaxation of Covid measures which has been warmly welcomed by employees.
The latest awards started with a joint nomination for the handling of an emergency situation on their purple 17 route.
Driver Steve Saunders, 49, from Calcot, who has eight years’ service, heard a bang on the bus when a man collapsed on the floor following a seizure. At the time of the incident, the bus was quite full.
Steve quickly pulled over, jumped out of his cab and rolled the man onto his side. He asked someone to call 999 while he helped the man. Although the bus was busy, the sudden shock of the incident meant that Steve was dealing with it on his own.
He was relieved when supervisor Awais Iqbal, 30 from Reading, who has six years’ service, jumped on the bus and helped with the situation. Awais stopped another bus and moved the other passengers safely onto it. Awais stayed with Steve and the ambulance staff to check the man.
Caroline Anscombe, Reading Buses HR Director, said today: “This was a great team effort by Steve and Awais and shows how much our employees work for each other. We are relieved that the customer was ok and it was in no small part to the quick thinking of Steve and then the reassuring presence of Awais.”
Christos Papachristodoulou, 44, was nominated for a star of the month award for outstanding customer service towards a visually impaired person using the bus for the first time with his guide dog.
Christos, who lives in Reading and has three years’ service, was calm and friendly, able to explain and help the customer safely navigate their first journey which they praised him for and said it gave them the confidence to use the bus again.
Caroline said: “We love that Christos was able to help this person gain confidence in using our service. We have an award-winning training team who give the drivers the tools to help in situations like this. But it is obviously on the driver to use them to the fullest and Christos certainly did that.”
From the engineering team, Jordan McKie, 23, was nominated for his unrelentingly positive ‘can-do’ attitude and outstanding helpfulness to the control room team and drivers.
His award nomination said that Jordan, who has five years’ service and lives in Reading, stepped forward without any hesitation.
Jordan was praised for the quick and efficient way he works and the helpfulness he always exhibits. He fuels and cleans the vehicles fast and effectively, getting them ready as quickly as possible for their next journey out in service.
He also works on the mobile engineering crew – the team that go out and fix the buses on the roadside – and has also been praised for ‘giving his all’ and always showing great attention.
Caroline said: “Jordan is a very well thought of member of our excellent engineering team. He does his work with a smile on his face and you can tell he really cares. His win this month is a great recognition of his consistently excellent performance and how he goes about his job with the greatest of effort.”
She continued: “These are superb examples of everything that’s great about Team Reading Buses.
“Customers can nominate our employees whom they feel have done something outstanding, have made their day or if they have just noticed they are always excellent. We think our people are first class and it’s lovely to hear when customers agree.
“Well done to everyone involved.”
Customers can nominate online at www.reading-buses.co.uk/star