Beast from the East is no match for Brian
Brian Ingham
A Birmingham bus Serviceman at National Express has won a place at the company’s global Values Awards finals in recognition of his heroic efforts during last year’s “Beast from the East”.
Brian Ingham from Acocks Green garage will be at an international final in London on 23 May. He will go up against colleagues from Spain, Morocco, Bahrain, North America, Germany and others from the UK.
Brian’s dedicated team ethos was shiningly evident during the unprecedented “Beast from the East” storm in March 2018. During one evening in those nightmare winter conditions, Brian single-handedly dug out 12 buses - and their drivers - who were stuck in the snow on Birmingham’s roads.
Brian’s tremendous efforts had a huge impact on the safe running of bus services that night. One driver that Brian helped get back into service was so grateful he wrote to management to express his thanks. Acocks Green bus driver Mohammed Khalid described Brian as “brilliant as always” in his letter.
Brian has worked for National Express West Midlands for 39 years. They call him “the heartbeat of evening operations” at Birmingham’s Acocks Green bus depot. Unassuming and humble, Brian is nevertheless absolutely pivotal to the nightshift - his colleagues say “the job would not get done without him.”
Every evening, Brian takes charge of the garage’s fuel and shunt operation - parking all the buses on site in the right order for morning run-out, co-ordinating the on-shift mechanics and fixing breakdowns.
James Allison, National Express’ Engineering Manager at Acocks Green, describes Brian as: “a natural-born leader in his own right. He inspires others with his drive to deliver the best operational performance.”