National award goes to modest Richard for keeping the buses running

A South Derbyshire man who plays a key role in planning bus services in the area has won a new national award.

Richard Sherratt was named the first winner of the Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award at an online ceremony on thursday.

Mr Sherratt, trentbarton’s scheduler for the past 29 years, was one of five finalists for the award, which was inspired by the career of Joe Wood, a bus scheduler who died in 2019.

As well as helping plan future services, Mr Sherratt, right, is responsible for scheduling the rotas of hundreds of drivers and the deployment of hundreds of buses. the 59-year-old, who lives in Hilton, said: “Winning was a big surprise. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s nice to be recognised as the industry does not always appreciate the work that goes into getting the services ready and the bus to the bus stop.”

He joined the company 41 years ago from school to work in its traffic office, and after working elsewhere he returned almost three decades ago. Mr Sherrat, who is based at trentbarton in Heanor, said: “I’ve seen a fair few changes over the years. this year, with the coronavirus pandemic, has been very different. We had to cope with changes seemingly every week early in the first lockdown. the art of being a good scheduler is to go unnoticed. Like any job the trick is making the hard things look easy.”

trentbarton managing director Jeff Counsell said: “I’m delighted that Richard deservedly won this award. We’re very pleased to have him on our team.”