- Paul Branigan takes Gold at UK Bus Awards
- Judges recognise engineering manager’s work in developing team and continuous improvement at Livingston Depot
- Depot team have won a series of awards and accolades
Paul Branigan, engineering manager with First West Lothian, has been named Engineer of the Year at the UK Bus Awards.
The 34-year-old, who is based at the Livingston Depot in Deans Road, saw off stiff competition to take the Gold Award at a ceremony in London.
The UK Bus Awards recognise outstanding performance, achievement and ground breaking projects delivered by the bus industry. The Engineer of the Year award, given in partnership with The IRTE (Institute of Road Transport Engineers), rewards inspirational management talent in engineering disciplines from across the industry.
Mark Yexley, Chairman of the UK Bus Awards, said: “The judges were very impressed with Paul’s achievements, especially the way he has inspired a team of employees who now all support each other and continue to make improvements for customers.
“We would like to congratulate Paul on his outstanding achievement, there was lot of tough competition. Well done from everyone at the UK Bus Awards.”
Paul started his career at First Bus before 12 years’ service as an engineer in the Army. He then returned to First Bus and has been influential in taking the Livingston Depot from strength to strength.
The Livingston Depot team have won a number of accolades and achieved the highest standards. The 33-strong team recently became the first to attain Bronze, Silver and then Gold Standard in the highly acclaimed First Bus Wrench Awards. The awards were established to develop and sustain best practice in maintenance and presentation of the First Bus fleet.
Livingston Depot was named Depot and Team of the Year Scotland in the First Group Excellence Awards and Paul received the Quantum Leap Award for the team’s work in reducing lost mileage and breakdowns, and improving vehicle reliability.
Last year the depot won the West Lothian Chamber Award for Learning and Development and has a close partnership West Lothian College, providing local placements for students and an international exchange programme.
Paul said: “I’m very proud to have received this award but for me it is very much an achievement for the whole team. They are a hard-working, professional and dedicated group and I dedicate this award to them for the effort they put into ensuring the fleet is always available to serve our customers.
“You can only really be successful as a manager if you have a good team and you’ve got to strive to ensure that everyone is working together and that they feel supported. There’s a great spirit amongst the Engineering Department and across the whole depot here.”
First West Lothian Managing Director, Andrew Jarvis, said: “We’re thrilled with Paul’s success at the UK Bus Awards, this is richly deserved and a tribute to him and the depot team.
“Paul and the team are going from strength to strength and this award recognises the great strides they are making in engineering excellence and in meeting the high standards expected by our customers.”
First Bus enjoyed further success at this year’s awards, with Martin Brand, Manager of the First Bus Regional Repair Centre in Glasgow, receiving a Highly Commended prize in the Unsung Heroes category and First West of England taking Gold in Marketing Initiative of the Year for its mobile mTickets campaign.
First Manchester and partners won the Silver Award in the ‘Making Buses a Better Choice’ category for the Vantage service. First York was also honoured, with the business collecting the Bronze Award in the Environment category for their Park & Ride Electric Buses.