routeone chats with CILT Bus and Coach Forum Co-Chair and head of Business Development for uTrack Austin Birks. We discuss his proudest moments and ongoing battle with cancer
How did you get into the bus industry?
I was basically born into it. My father was formerly Chief Executive of National Express. I didn’t mean to join – I accidentally fell into it via the National Bus Company Senior Management training scheme, which I joined in 1983. I got a job at Midland Red West as a depot manager in Hereford in 1986. So my journey began.
What was a big moment in your career?
I was head of recruitment at FirstGroup at the time and it changed dramatically when I was asked to head up a project to recruit bus drivers in Poland, which was uncharted territory. That was an amazing experience – we ended up recruiting over 3,000 people. That made a huge difference to the company and was built it on ethical grounds. The theory behind the recruitment was equality, pay and dignity. When the first tranche of 30 drivers arrived in Bath, they were blown away by the whole experience.
What did that recruitment involve?
We built a version of Britain in part of Poland – the recruits were in classrooms, using ticket machines, understanding English currency and watching DVDs to understand the routes they would learn. It was chosen by the European Union as an example of best practice, so I ended up giving speeches in the European Parliament which was fantastic fun.
How did you become involved with U-Track?
After 20 years, one day I was made redundant. So I had to change my career. Eventually I met two Irish gentlemen who built a great piece of technology. We started tracking the first four vehicles on the 178 service between Redditch and Birmingham. For the first time ever, I had evidence to see where vehicles were in real time. I thought this was amazing – that this could change the whole bus industry in the UK.
What are you most proud of?
My association with the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics (CILT). Andrew Hunter is now co-chairing the Bus and Coach Forum because I’ve got bowel cancer stage 4A. I’m presently undergoing some significant chemotherapy because although it got cured once, it came back. I’m still making sure I can contribute as much as I can. The Forum has been a great success. In fact, it’s all been a great journey, sitting in this hospital trawling back through it.
What does the future hold?
My ambition is to beat the cancer, even though the odds aren’t very high. The prognosis is challenging. But I’ve ignored that once already. I was misdiagnosed four times. I had emergency surgery and chemotherapy and in October it came back. Now I’m facing surgery to try and beat it again. In the meantime, I’ve been raising money for Cancer Research UK. I did standup comedy at the Glee club in Birmingham, which was an amazing experience. Cancer or not, I couldn’t care less. I don’t let it change my lifestyle. If you believe you can beat these things – I think you can.
