Guildford based family owned Safeguard Coaches is celebrating success at the coach and bus industry’s premier awards event after being named Small Bus Operator of the Year.
 
This coveted accolade was presented at the routeONE Awards held on 5 November at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. It is an award that recognises excellence and confirms that Safeguard Coaches is among the best in the country.
 
Attended by 790 industry guests, the routeONE Awards is now in its 10th year and is firmly established as the number one event in the coach and bus industry calendar. 
 
“Excellence is the by-word and the aim, as always, is to identify and reward the best operators and people in the coach, bus and minibus sectors,” said Awards Chairman Mike Morgan. 
 
After collecting the Small Bus Operator of the Year trophy from celebrities Tim Vine and Steph McGovern, Andrew Halliday, Managing Director of Safeguard Coaches said: “Being recognized as the best small bus operator nationally in this hard fought competition is a huge accolade and well deserved recognition for all our drivers, supervisors, engineers and managers in this our 90th year of operation. We are very proud of our success.”

Commending Safeguard Coaches, the routeONE Awards judging panel of five highly experienced industry experts said: “Although long-established, our winner has moved with the times…indeed it has taken the lead in many respects, ensuring that it has maintained a competitive edge, recording 25% passenger growth on its core commercial bus services in Guildford, while maintaining enviable reliability despite Guildford’s highly unpredictable traffic conditions.”

Tim Matthews, Head of UK Sales at Optare, said, “ We are thrilled that Safeguard Coaches have been recognised in this way and are pleased to announce that we will be supplying yet another Optare Versa to cope with the increasing number of passengers travelling on the bus services provided by this award winning company.”