Pictured Left to right: Front row: Jack Davidson, Alma Cox, Babar Kiyani. Back Row: Robert Williams
An amazing driver recently celebrated being crowned as Reading Buses Star of the Year. On Saturday 22 February 2024 Reading Buses hosted their Night with the Stars at the Hilton Hotel, Kennet Island, Reading – an evening where they celebrate their employees who have done amazing things over the past year.
And, as the main part of the evening, Driver Alma Cox was crowned as their new Star of the Year. Alma was first chosen as Driving Star for her excellent customer service, friendly approach to everyone and welcoming smile. Her dedication to her job and the way she still performs outstandingly well after 25 years saw her then beat the Engineering and Support Stars to take the top award.
Hosted once again by their voice of the buses, David Sheppard, the event acknowledged their employees who had won Star of the Month, retired, achieved long service, attained qualifications or national recognition or had helped their charity raise lots of money.
Said Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; “We had a fantastic evening, as we celebrated our star employees from 2024, as well as those with notable achievements and outstanding customer service, and, of course, we finished the evening by crowning of our Star of the Year.”
On the night, three ‘main’ stars were awarded with Alma Cox winning Driving Star of the Year, Babar Kiyani winning Support Star of the Year and Jack Davidson winning Engineering Star of the Year.
Alongside Alma’s win as Driving Star, Babar Kiyani won Support Star due to his growth and dedication in his role in Reading Buses’ busy control room over the past 2 years. Starting out as a driver, Babar has been described as a wonderful asset to the control team.
Engineer Jack Davidson was awarded the top Engineering award for his professional approach to work, commitment to excellence and winning attitude. Still early in his career, Jack is showing all the right behaviours and skills to be a real star for years to come.
Said Robert, “It was a very close-run decision as all three Stars would have been great choices, but Alma’s consistency over 25 years and her popularity with both customers and employees alike, meant she took the top award – our Star of the Year. She is also the first person to ever win Reading Buses Star of the Year twice after winning it previously in 2012. Alma truly embodies our core values including unrelenting customer focus, always doing the right thing and having fun.”
There were also additional awards with Sharmila Perera named as Charity Champion, David Newell as Community Hero, Customer Champion went to driver Steve Saunders, Allocations Officer Anne-Marie Elliot was recognised as an Unsung Hero and Rising Star award went to Engineer James Roberts.
There was also a standing ovation for driver Amarjit Singh as he celebrated his impressive 50th year working for Reading Buses.
The evening came to an end with a charity raffle. Tickets for the raffle were purchased by attendees throughout the night and in total raised over £450 for the company’s Charity of the Year, Berkshire Youth.
Finished Robert, “The night was a huge success and would not have been possible without the support and generosity of our sponsors.
We’d like to thank our headline sponsor Alexander Dennis as well as sponsors Bus and Coach World limited, BP rolls, Ticketer, Blandy & Blandy, Omnibus EPM, r2p, Dawson Group, Lazzerini, Michelin, Power Fleet, Frasers and Zenobe.
Their contributions to our event allowed us to help make sure that everyone had the best evening possible.”
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