Arran bus apprentice recognised at Annual Awards Ceremony

• Praise for outstanding UK Bus apprentices

Stagecoach's top UK Bus apprentices have been recognised at the company's 10th annual Apprentice of the Year Awards. 

Nine bus engineering apprentices were awarded for their outstanding performance at a ceremony at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in Manchester. The winners received cash prizes and individual trophies and tools supplied by event sponsors ADL, Optare, the Society of Operations Engineers, Roadcrew and QA Supplies.

Stuart McMaster from Stagecoach West Scotland was awarded first place in the third year apprentice category, sponsored by Optare. James Thornborrow from Stagecoach London took second place and Ian Dyer from Stagecoach East Midlands, was awarded third place.

ADL sponsored the year two awards with Stagecoach Yorkshire apprentice Sam Harris receiving the first place award. Sam was also previously the winner of the year one award. Kyle Stewart from Stagecoach North Scotland and Christopher Stobbs from Stagecoach North East were awarded second and third places respectively.

Winner of the year one category, sponsored by the Society of Operations Engineers, was Michael Creed from Stagecoach South, with Daniel Poole from Stagecoach London in second place and Ben Dawson from Stagecoach South West in third.

29 tool prizes provided by QA Supplies and Roadcrew were awarded for outstanding achievements in categories including depot vote, peer vote, end of block test results. 

Dorothy Hermiston, Stagecoach UK Bus Deputy Training and Development Manager said: "This year’s winners have excelled themselves and set an exceptionally high standard over the past 12 months and they thoroughly deserve their awards. 

"The Stagecoach apprentice scheme is widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive in the bus industry and it is vital to the future success of our business. We are delighted to have such skilled people within our ranks which is great news, not only for Stagecoach, but also for the millions of passengers who travel on our buses day in, day out.”

Stagecoach currently employs 168 apprentices across its UK Bus operations.