READING Buses has crowned its Star of the Year for 2025.
The company hosted their annual Night with the Stars at the Hilton Hotel, Kennet Island to celebrate their employees who have done amazing things over the past year.
Among those recognised at the event was driver Alma Cox, who was crowned as their new Star of the Year.
Alma was first chosen as Driving Star for her “excellent customer service, friendly approach, and welcoming smile.”
She was commended for her dedication to her job and “outstanding” performance after 25 years of service.
Her commendation saw her then beat the Engineering and Support Stars to take the top award.
Hosted once again by their voice of the buses, David Sheppard, the event acknowledged their employees who had won Star of the Month, retired, achieved long service, attained qualifications or national recognition or had helped their charity raise lots of money.
She was joined by Babar Kiyani, who won Support Star of the Year, and Jack Davidson, who won Engineering Star of the Year.
Alongside Alma’s win as Driving Star, Babar Kiyani won Support Star due to his growth and dedication in his role in Reading Buses’ busy control room over the past 2 years. Starting out as a driver, Babar has been described as a wonderful asset to the control team.
Engineer Jack Davidson was awarded the top Engineering award for his professional approach to work, commitment to excellence and winning attitude.
Still early in his career, Jack was commended for “showing all the right behaviours and skills to be a real star for years to come.”
There were also additional awards with Sharmila Perera named as Charity Champion, David Newell as Community Hero, Customer Champion went to driver Steve Saunders, Allocations Officer Anne-Marie Elliot was recognised as an Unsung Hero and Rising Star award went to Engineer James Roberts.
There was also a standing ovation for driver Amarjit Singh as he celebrated his impressive 50th year working for Reading Buses.
The evening came to an end with a charity raffle, which raised over £450 for the company’s Charity of the Year, Berkshire Youth.
Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer, said: “We had a fantastic evening, as we celebrated our star employees from 2024, as well as those with notable achievements and outstanding customer service, and, of course, we finished the evening by crowning of our Star of the Year.”
“It was a very close-run decision as all three Stars would have been great choices, but Alma’s consistency over 25 years and her popularity with both customers and employees alike, meant she took the top award – our Star of the Year.
“She is also the first person to ever win Reading Buses Star of the Year twice after winning it previously in 2012.
“Alma truly embodies our core values including unrelenting customer focus, always doing the right thing and having fun.”
He explained: “The night was a huge success and would not have been possible without the support and generosity of our sponsors.
“We’d like to thank our headline sponsor Alexander Dennis as well as sponsors Bus and Coach World limited, BP rolls, Ticketer, Blandy & Blandy, Omnibus EPM, r2p, Dawson Group, Lazzerini, Michelin, Power Fleet, Frasers and Zenobe.
“Their contributions to our event allowed us to help make sure that everyone had the best evening possible.”
