Q&A with Nottingham's bus driver of the year, Les Roome
Article Published On 12/7/2014 7:00:00 PM
Published By Nottingham Post | View The Full News Article
Q. You were recently crowned Top National Driver at the UK Bus Awards. What is they key to keeping passengers happy?A. Treating everyone with respect is important and keeping a smile on your face. Having a bit of banter with people helps too. One lady asked for a Grouprider (£4.50) and I asked her for £29.50. Her face dropped. Then I told her I was joking and she was all laughs. One bloke knows I'm called Roome so he always says 'alright Mush... Roome'. He's a lovely fella.Q. You drive Nottingham City Transport's 25 and 27 now. Have you got a favourite route?A. I started out working from the Trent Bridge terminal, so I used to drive the 7s, 8s, 9s and 11s. I've also done the 2s and 3s. But I like my current route because I live on it. I see people I know, which is nice.Q. Have you seen more people using the buses with the Christmas shopping period underway? A. We're getting double the number of passengers on my route. You'll see four or five people at each stop and when they come back from town I've seen pushchairs full of shopping.Q. How do you cope with roadworks as a bus driver? A. It's been horrendous. Sometimes you can be up to 10 minutes late and there's not much you can do. The best thing is to explain the situation to the passengers and be understanding. You can't do much more than that, but people appreciate your honesty.
