BRIGHT stars that make the borough’s bus journeys shine were celebrated at a special ceremony last weekend.
Reading Buses held its annual Night with the Stars at Reading Town Hall on Saturday, so the company could honour long-serving employees, retirees and 2019 Stars of the Month.
The company runs a range of routes across the borough, including the Leopard, Lion and Oranges, and owns Courtney Buses.
Network Supervisor Adam Conner was announced as Support Star, Master Technician Jordan Hicks was the Engineering Star and Jennie Hughes was unveiled as Driving Star.
Adam, 43, of Reading, who has 12 years’ service, won for his consistently excellent performance as part of the Control Room team.
The company said that in a high-pressure environment Adam can be relied on as an employee who is always calm and considered in decisions and actions. He provides other departments with information and support as well as applying a deeply knowledgeable and professional approach. He was a December Star of the Month.
Jordan, 27, of Purley, who has eight years’ service, won for outstanding diligence, repairing vehicles for service and demonstrating a huge commitment to excellence in engineering. He shows a great work ethic and ‘can do’ attitude as well as making a huge input overall. He was a July Star of the Month.
Jennie, 42, of Thatcham, who has six years’ service, won for consistently showing unrelenting customer focus, including a cheerful and welcoming approach to customers as well as excellent driving skills and overall excellent performance. She was a May Star of the Month.
And Reading Buses chief executive officer, Robert Williams, announced that Jordan Hicks was the Star of the Year.
He is the first member of the Engineering Department to be crowned overall Star of the Year since the awards’ inception.
The judging panel felt that he had been rightly praised by his managers for his knowledge and leadership, mentoring the apprentices and helping to continue the tradition of the engineering department of high-quality work.
Mr Williams: “This is a great occasion and an incredibly important night as we ensure that our outstanding employees from the year are recognised. The awards themselves recognise those who go above and beyond to provide excellent performance. Or simply those unsung heroes who perform excellently every single day.
“I would like to congratulate all our Stars and especially our driving, support and engineering stars Jennie, Adam and Jordan. They have all performed amazingly well this year and it was extremely hard to choose between them – one of the hardest years ever according to the panel.
“And a huge well done to Jordan who has grown into his role this year and has helped the engineering department, and the wider company, immensely this year. It’s a well-deserved award.”
Guests at the event included Reading’s mayor, Cllr Paul Woodward as well as Reading Buses’ Chair, David Sutton and Paul McAdam the Chairman of the company’s 2020 charity partner, Sport in Mind.
