Whytes Coaches wins major industry award 08/11/10

A Newmachar operator has won a major industry award that recognises business and operating excellence.

Whytes Coaches, saw off stiff competition to win the Operator Training Award at Wednesday night's routeONE Operator Excellence Awards.

 Whytes were nominated for four awards in total, narrowly missing out on "coach operator of the year" and "innovation of the year" for their new Scotland Explorer day trip service. The training award recognises a commitment to training that elevates Whytes to a status that is unrivalled in the coach transport industry.

 Whytes have operated coaches since 1967, offering coach holidays throughout the UK and Europe, as well as private and contract coach hire. Following difficulty in recruiting and maintaining staff, Whytes have invested in bespoke training facilities and compiled courses to cover the various aspects of coach operation. This has proved so successful that Whytes training services are now in demand throughout the North-East.

 The awards, organised by the bus and coach industry's leading weekly trade magazine, routeONE, and held at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham, were attended by representatives from around 700 bus and coach operators, suppliers and industry organisations from across the UK.

 Commenting on the win, Mike Morgan, Chairman of the judges, and Editor of routeONE, says: ‘The winning company is one of the many operators that are an approved training centre for delivery of the Driver CPC training. In addition to the mandatory training requirements it carries out practical driving assessments, customer care, and local knowledge training.

Whytes Managing Director, Steven Whyte, commented "We are delighted to have won this award and to be nominated for three other awards is a credit to the great team of people who work at Whytes. In difficult economic conditions, an attention to detail and commitment to investment in training and vehicles has helped our company remain strong."