This category is designed to recognise and reward excellence and high standards in the delivery of essential support services to coach operators. It focuses on products or suppliers which help operators to be:

• more efficient
• more environmentally friendly
• more customer-focused
• more reliable

Nominees included providers of services such computer software, other support services, engineering services, safety and risk management or legal advice.

The Winners

• Distinctive Systems Ltd, York for its software support solutions

Distinctive Systems is an independent software vendor specialising in the development of products for coach and bus companies. The company was established 25 years ago, and has since supplied more than 1,750 systems to operators throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Highly Commended

• The Freight Transport Association, for the Vehicle Inspection Service

The FTA’s vehicle inspection service has been running for over 30 years, helping to ensure the roadworthiness of members’ vehicles. Over 100,000 inspections of both commercial and passenger vehicles are carried out each year by a team of 100 engineers, many of whom have worked in the bus and coach industry. The service is designed to provide busy engineering managers with a comprehensive, independent quality audit of their fleet maintenance arrangements and repair standards. The results are presented in a form that can be used to benchmark performance levels between vehicles, between depots or against national standards.

• Texa UK Limited, for the Automotive Diagnostic Solution

Texa is a fast-growing Italian company with aUK subsidiary based in Nelson, Lancashire. Texa produces  diagnostic equipment for road vehicles, including motor cycles, cars, trucks and PSVs. The system uses a Windows Interface and a web browser to provide vehicle inspections and analysis for a wide range of vehicles and components.

• RFL Computer Village Limited, for its AVL and booking systems

The company is based in Chippenham and provides IT Support to organisations in the Education, SME, Retail, Leisure, Health and Local Government sectors throughout the South West Region. In coaching, the company supplies and maintains vehicle and driver monitoring systems, and provides an on-line coach booking system which is described as among the most powerful of any coach operator in the UK and even allows the passenger to choose their seat position on the coach.

Who can be nominated?

Any individual, business or organisation, not themselves the holder of an operator’s license, providing services or products to coach operators.

… and by whom?

Readers of Coach and Bus Week and other industry experts were asked to nominate suppliers whom they believed to qualify for this category. Self-nomination is not appropriate, though judges may request additional information from the service provider.

Criteria and Entry Requirements

A successful nomination for this award needed to demonstrate that the supply of a product or a service achieves one or more of the following:

• improves the image of the coach
• stimulates interest in, or desire for, coach services
• improves the efficiency of the industry
• reduces the environmental impact of the industry

This award will be made for an product or service which, in the opinion of the judges, most contributes to the improvement of the coach product.