Sanders Coaches named Top Independent Bus Operator at 2023 UK Bus Awards

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We are very proud to announce that we have been named as Top Independent Bus Operator at the 2023 UK Bus Awards which took place in London on Tuesday 28th November. Sanders also scooped a Bronze award for “Enriching the Customer Experience” in recognition of the relaunch of the X55 service in January 2023 and a Bronze award for overall UK Bus Operator of the Year.

Following a successful award submission, we were shortlisted for the finals alongside other fellow independent operators. Judges of the category looked for investment in vehicles, high engineering standards, prioritising health and safety and the formation of partnerships with local authorities. Additionally for 2023 judges were paying close attention to what bus operators had done to encourage the recovery of passenger numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Charles Sanders, Managing Director comments:

“The family are extremely proud of all our staff, who have secured this prestigious award for the Company. There is a huge team of people working tirelessly behind the scenes, every one of them a vital cog in our organisation, it is not just the driver and bus that everyone so plainly sees. The mystery shopping by the judges that took place commented on our reliability, punctuality, driver customer service and the very high levels of customer satisfaction we achieve. I also thank Norfolk County Council Travel & Transport for their partnership, ensuring that rural services in Norfolk can not only survive but indeed thrive with the right joint approach”.

Sanders Coaches Management Team, from left to right Daniel Sanders (Engineering Manager), Kieran Smith (Operations Manager), Paul Sanders (Managing Director), Charles Sanders (Managing Director), Carole Willimot (Head of Finance), Martin Sanders (Business Manager)

As part of the entry, a submission of a number of our performance figures including driver recruitment and retention, fares data, complaints, annual MOT pass rate and punctuality were scrutinised. These were backed up by mystery shopper visits to North Norfolk to sample our bus services.

The award is testament to the hard work of all of our 120+ local people employed at North Walsham and Holt including cleaners, drivers, engineers, administration staff and management, and the investment from the Sanders family into bus and coach operations in Norfolk. To date, twenty three brand new vehicles have been invested in in the last three years plus ongoing replacement of older members of the fleet will continue improve the customer experience.

Sanders Coaches Ltd. was formed in 1975 by Norman and Gladys Sanders, fast approaching it’s 50th year the business remains fully family owned with sons Charles and Paul at the helm and their sons Martin and Daniel overseeing the business, supported by their management team. From depots in Holt and North Walsham a fleet of around 90 carefully maintained buses and executive coaches are operated on a variety of local bus services and private hire contracts.