Sponsored by

The winners of these awards deliver consistently excellent customer service. The operators demonstrate their success through sustained effort.

They have shown that they:

• are financially sound
• maintain high operational and engineering standards
• give priority to the Health and Safety of staff and passengers through comprehensive risk management
• invest in their fleet and staff
• form effective partnerships
• identify with and respond to the communities they serve
• always strive to sustain and grow the market for coaches and coach services.

As well as this award for the medium operators of fleets between 16 and 50 vehicles, there are two others for buisinesses with fleets of 15 or fewer and over 51 vehicles.

From the winners of these three awards, the judges chose an overall winner, named UK Coach Operator of the Year.

For each of the categories, customer nominations were sought from group organisers and other industry clients. Nominated operators are also  invited to submit further information to the judges.The judging process also includes 'mystery shopping' of the nominated operators to test their commitment to customer service.

Who could be nominated?

The awards are open to all operators of coaches for hire to the general public or used on tours and excurions.

... and by whom?

Group organisers and other clients who hire coaches on an occasional or regular basis were asked to nominate the coach company which has delivered the best service to their groups.

The Winners: Excelsior Coaches, Bournemouth, Dorset

With 85 years of experience, Excelsior Coaches claims to provide the most modern air-conditioned fleet in the region and has been awarded CPT's prestigious Coach Marque quality award.

The growing modern fleet of 38 vehicles has increased 30% in the last 2 years, the oldest vehicle being five years old and the firm now employs 85 full time and part time staff. The business has migrated from seasonally-dependent work to long-term corporate contracts – less retail, more business-to-business.

Excelsior is widely known for its quality and this includes its operations for National Express, which has presented the firm with a number of awards in recent years. The judges noted that Excelsior is seen by its clients as more than just a coach operator - in the corporate market it provides not just coach hire to its customers but a total end-to-end solution covering all aspects of transport related services.

More information from www.excelsior-coaches.com

Runners Up: Golden Boy Coaches, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire

Golden Boy Coaches has been operating since 1968 serving the London, Hertfordshire & Essex region. The company aims to offer customers an excellent service, with modern high specification vehicles driven by professional, well trained, uniformed drivers.

Over the last five years in particular, Golden Boy has adopted an accelerated fleet upgrade programme and adopts a policy of continued fleet reinvestment.

The company currently operates a fleet of 32 vehicles,  with an average age profile of 5.5 years, and employs 35 full time staff plus twelve additional part-time people.

More information from www.goldenboy.co.uk

Highly Commended

The following were highly commended by the judges.

Anthony's Travel, Runcorn, Cheshire

Anthony's Travel was established in 1985 by Anthony, Anne and Richard Bamber with one mini-coach the firm now has an extensive fleet of 16 coaches  and mini-coaches and over 40 members of staff.

From its base in Runcorn, Cheshire Anthony's Travel provides coach transport for a wide range of clients, businesses, educational establishments, sports teams, tour operators and local authorities.  The emphasis is on high quality service and vehicles with a family touch and the firm is an approved member of Coach Marque.

Full details can be found by visiting the company's website at www.anthonys-travel.co.uk

Marshall's Coaches, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire

Marshalls Coaches have been established for 38 years, having been established by Fred and Sheila Marshall in 1974. It is still a family concern, with Fred and Sheila's sons Glen and Dean now involved in running the business.

The company operates from a purpose-built headquarters in Leighton Buzzard and has a fleet of 28 coaches and seven buses.  The company now has 45 full time employees.

For more information, visit www.marshalls-coaches.co.uk

Stanley Travel, Stanley, County Durham

Stanley Travel has been a leader in taxi, mini bus and coach transport since its establishment in 1961. The family-owned company currently employs 71 staff (39 full time and 32 part time), and has a total fleet size including the taxis of around 60 vehicles. This includes eight full size coaches.

The company operates a holiday and a day trip programme as well as the coach hire business, in which it has recently developed a niche product for the needs of cyclists doing point to point bike rides. This involved the design and manufacture of purpose-built trailers of various sizes to be towed by small vehicles, minibuses or coaches.

For more information, visit www.minicoachhire.co.uk