Jack, 34, was revealed as the winner of the top prize at the Kinchbus Universe Awards on Friday 15 November.

Jack, who lives in Cropwell Bishop, was one of 14 drivers who achieved a superb score in mystery customer checks during the year. He won the Driver of the Year trophy, £1,500 towards a holiday and an extra day off every year.

Kinchbus general manager Christian Allen-Clay said: “Jack is an extremely worthy winner. He has only been driving buses for 20 months but his mystery customer scores are always consistently excellent.

“It’s a source of great pride that we trained him up. He has been described to us as a delight of a driver and we’re very pleased he’s part of the team.”

Jack, who will now go forward to the UK Bus Awards to be in contention for the National Driver of the Year title in 2025, said: “Winning was a real surprise. I was not expecting that at all. It made me very happy and my wife was really excited for me.”

Jack had no prior experience when he joined Kinchbus in 2022 after moving from Hong Kong. He said: “I really enjoy driving so I thought bus driving could be fun. I do enjoy it. The customers are really nice to me.”

The Kinchbus Universe Awards also saw Kinchbus 11 and 12 driver Christopher Smith win the coveted Customer Choice Awards.

Christopher, 52, from Loughborough, was nominated by lots of customers. The judges said: “We found it hard not to be impressed by the sheer volume sent in for Christopher.”

One customer wrote: “He is always so polite and positive and always has a smile on his face. He makes sure his customers are safe and looks after absolutely everyone. If you’re having a bad day, getting on his bus with him will always cheer you up.”

Unsung Hero of the Year is engineer Christopher Simpson, 36, from Mapperley, who is the king of bodywork for Kinchbus.

Christian Allen-Clay said: “Christopher’s attention to detail and his dedication to the job is off the charts. He makes each bus look like new, whether it’s after a bash or before its MoT test. He has not been in the spotlight before but he deserves to be, he’s an ideal Unsung Hero.”

And the Colleague Choice Award went to Sarabpreet Kaur, 33, from Leicester, who trained to drive at Kinchbus in 2022. After a stint on sprint, Sarabpreet, also known as Cherry, drives all the Kinchbus routes.

 

The judges said: “Sarabpreet was described by her colleagues as incredibly helpful and always willing to go the extra mile to help. They remarked that her friendly and cheerful nature helped to put a smile on their faces each day.”

Tom Morgan, Kinchbus managing director, said: “This was a fantastic celebration of our wonderful team which goes out every day to provide a great service to the people of Loughborough and beyond.

“Everyone who was nominated deserves huge applause. We salute them for the service they provide and thank them for their hard work on behalf of our customers.”