FirstGroup was recognised at the UK Light Rail Awards ceremony last week with First Tram Operations being Highly Commended for its Significant Safety Initiative, the adoption of the ‘Smith System’ driver training programme.
‘Smith System’ training has been underway since November 2013 using the company’s road vehicles, with follow-up monitoring when driving trams. Everyone who drives a tram, even on an occasional basis, will have the training. This gives tram drivers an externally recognised certificate of defensive driving skills to enhance the competence demonstrated through the company’s own tram driving qualification.
Managing Director John Rymer said:
‘This commendation recognises the business's adoption of ‘best practice’ from our UK Bus division as well as our ongoing commitment to running the safest possible service. I’d like to give special thanks to our ‘Smith System’ accredited instructors, Paul Ayers, Mick Johns, Toni Lavender, Mark Lewis and George Rossi and to Glenn Heaver, Technical Support Analyst, who submitted our entry.’
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
About FirstGroup plc
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America with revenues of more than £6.7 billion. Our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.5 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 117,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of around 49,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services in the US, while Greyhound is the only national operator of scheduled intercity coach services across North America. In the UK, FirstGroup is one of Britain's largest bus operators running a fleet of some 6,400 buses, and we operate four UK passenger rail franchises, carrying more than 330 million passengers a year.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world, keeping people moving and communities prospering.
Contacts at FirstGroup:
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media
Tel: +44 20 7725 3354