Fifty years after his grandfather Ronald Smith received a Master Driver award from his Birmingham employers for driving excellence, grandson Stuart Wilkinson has repeated that success with National Express West Midlands.
31-year-old Stuart has been driving at the Perry Barr garage for over five years.
He was recently presented with a Master Driver award after achieving three years of safe, incident and accident free driving and after completing a unique Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) driving test – an accredited advanced driving test for bus drivers that is unique to National Express.
Stuart says: “My mum had grandad’s certificate on her wall for as long as I can remember. He learnt to drive in the Army and then went on to receive his Master Driver award at the age of 37.”
The National Express Master Driver programme was created to encourage and recognise excellence in driving. It provides a framework to measure the performance of drivers and identify those with an impeccable safety record and outstanding driving skills.
To date National Express has over 250 Master Drivers at sites across the West Midlands.
