Readers of Group Travel Organiser magazine 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.

In total, readers nominated 99 operators around the country, from which a short-list was drawn up based on the operators with the highest number of votes by fleet category.

From the winners of these three awards, the judges also decided on an overall winner, who is named Belmont International UK Coach Operator of the Year.

Belmont International UK Coach Operator of the Year

• CoachChoice, Wolverhampton

CoachChoice has been operating for the past nine years, and runs a fleet of six coaches. A family business, it has five full time drivers and two office staff.

Runners Up:

• Ruffles Coaches, of Castle Hedingham in Essex

Ruffles has been in business since 1955, and is now run by Glenn Ruffles and his sister Georgina, the children of the original founder John Ruffles. The company has a fleet of 29 vehicles and runs a mixture of charter and contract work.

Best Operator, Small Fleet (10 vehicles or less)

Winners:

• CoachChoice, Wolverhampton

CoachChoice has been operating for the past nine years, and runs a fleet of six coaches. A family business, it has five full time drivers and two office staff.

Runners Up:

• Kings Coaches, Stanway, Colchester

Kings Coaches is a family run business based in the village of Stanway near Cochester, Essex in the UK, established in 1953, and now run by the third generation of the Cousins family. The business runs a fleet of seven luxury coaches, catering for all the requirements of today's business and leisure traveller.

Highly Commended

• Nottingham City Coaches

Nottingham City Coaches has built its success over the last 30 years by ensuring the service we provide to our customers is of the highest quality, including the ability to tailor requirements to individual needs. The company runs a fleet of ten, 49 seat executive vehicles are all fitted with seat belts, air conditioning, full audiovisual services, drinks and toilet facilities.

Best Operator, Medium Fleet (between 11 and 50 vehicles)

Winners:

• Ruffles Coaches of Castle Hedingham, Essex

Ruffles has been in business since 1955, and is now run by Glenn Ruffles and his sister Georgina, the children of the original founder John Ruffles. The company has a fleet of 29 vehicles and runs a mixture of charter and contract work.

Runners Up:

• Woods Coaches of Leicester

Established in 1950 by George and Elaine Wood with one 29-seat vehicle, the company continues today as a family-owned business, with son, Mark Wood at the helm as Chairman. It now employs 55 staff, including 21 drivers, and the fleet has grown to 16 coaches. The company provides private coach hire, and also runs around 550 day trips and over 120 coach holidays throughout each year.

Highly Commended:

• Hardings International of Redditch, Worcestershire

Hardings Coaches is a Midlands based operator located in the centre of the Midland motorway network. Established over 60 years ago with a charabanc running local services, the company has grown and prospered through three generations of the same family and in 2005 moved into a new purpose built site in Redditch.The company operates a modern fleet of over 40 vehicles, which includes 30 luxury touring coaches, and employs approx 80 full time staff. Hardings pride themselves on providing an excellent personal service for local, long distance and European luxury coach travel.

• Excelsior Coaches of Bournemouth

With 85 years of experience, Excelsior Coaches provides the most modern air-conditioned fleet in the region and is one of only 38 elite Coach Operators in the UK to be awarded the prestigious Coach Marque Award, by the confederation of Passenger Transport. Excelsior operates a modern fleet of 25 vehicles which has increased 25% in the last 2 years, the oldest vehicle is 5 years old and employs 65 full time staff.

• Banstead Coaches of Banstead, Surrey

Banstead Coaches is a true family business  - with five family members working in the company, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The company runs 17 coaches on contracts and private hire.

• Anthony's Travel of Runcorn, Cheshire

Anthony's Travel is a well-established passenger carrying business family-owned and operated by Anne, Tony and Richard Bamber. The company is experienced in all aspects of coach travel, and prides itself on a commitment to provide a quality service to all their customers. Anthony's now employs over 40 regular staff.

• Cooks Coaches of Westcliff on Sea in Essex

Cooks is a family business that has been operating in the Southend-on-Sea area of Essex for 100 years, during which time we have built up a reputation for reliability, honesty and courtesy. Cooks has a fleet of modern, well equipped luxury coaches with experienced drivers dedicated to high standards of service whether on day trips, the company's coach tour programme or on charter services.

Best Operator, Large Fleet (50 vehicles or more)

Winners:

• Bowens Coaches of Tamworth, Staffordshire

The Bowen group is one of the largest independent coach operators in the country, and now runs 130 coaches. As well as the Bowens name, the group also owns other well-known brands, including York’s, Jeff’s and Applebys

Runners Up:

• Johnson Brothers of Worksop, Nottinghamshire

Established in the 1950s by the Johnson family, this is a family run company, which prides itself on offering its customers exceptional value for money, combined with a personal, yet professional service. The business is proud to maintain its roots as an independent coach tour operator in Nottinghamshire, operating from the original premises in Worksop.

Highly Commended:

• Shearings Holidays based in Wigan, Lancashire

Shearings Group is one of the UK’s leading independent holiday companies, perhaps best known for coach-based tours. The group’s roots can be traced back to 1903 when Smiths Happiways was established in Wigan. The business has almost 300 modern fully-equipped coaches driven by the best drivers in the business, 48 good-quality leisure hotels and over 3,000 committed, loyal staff.

• Burtons Coaches of Haverhill, Cambridge

Burtons Coaches has operated in Haverhill since 1948 and since 1998 has been affiliated to and more recently part of the Tellings Golden Miller Group. The company provides local bus, express, excursion and coach hire services throughout West Suffolk, Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire, and North Essex including Stansted Airport. The company holds both the Coachmarque and Guild of British Coach Operators acreditations.

 Information about the nomination process:

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

They have shown that they are:

• 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.

The judging process, included 'mystery shopping', whereby the nominated operators had their commitment to customer service tested. Nominated operators were also been invited to submit information to the judges, which was alongside the nominations and mystery traveller results.