Mum-of-two bursts with pride to be on Nottinghamshire…

Mum-of-two bursts with pride to be on Nottinghamshire roads as a top bus driver

When passenger's board Joanne Rich's bus, they are welcomed with a cheery, "Good morning, my lovely!" It's the same friendliness she meets all her customers with - even when they get off, with a wave from Joanne and a happy, "goodbye, and have a nice day".

Of course everyone has their favourite bus driver or a memory of one who stood out when they were a child. And Joanne is no exception, as she was voted for by dozens of passengers - who chose her as trentbarton's Customer Choice winner.

But putting her fancy award plaque to one side, the mum-of-two genuinely bursts with pride to be a bus driver on skylink Nottingham. And the reason she got behind the wheel is a truly personal one dear to her heart.

A nursery nurse when she left school, which she enjoyed for seven years, she wanted to try something different and explore other industries, she told Nottinghamshire Live. "The reason I wanted to be a bus driver was because my dad spoke about it. He wanted to be a bus driver himself.

"But, due to illness, he could not do it. I decided I wanted to go it for him". Joanne, 37, of Clifton, began driving buses 13 years ago - starting out with Nottingham City Transport (NCT) - before moving to trentbarton ten years ago.

Joanne Rich who drives on skylink Nottingham (trentbarton)

Her bus is a single-decker, and the service she drives is the skylink in Coalville, Loughborough and East Midlands Airport. Speaking about her resolve, she said: "I'm always happy, and always happy to help!

"I had a young girl give me a letter a couple of weeks ago, which was addressed to, "my driver, I don't know your name. It makes my day when you say, 'good morning, my lovely!'" The touching letter said 'thank you' and was signed by the child.

Joanne fits in her shift around her children, nine-year-old, Katie-Rae Rich, and son, Jamie Rich, who is five. She is married to husband, Martin, also a bus driver who works for NCT, "so there's a little bit of rivalry," she jokes.

"He started off as a depot cleaner. He cleaned and parked up buses. I was driving before him and he decided to have a go. He enjoys it - but he is not as good as me!"

Becoming a bus driver involves a personality test, theory test, practical test, and then going out on the bus to drive. Once you have passed your test, new recruits go with another driver to show you the routes.

Dozens of passengers voted for the Customer Choice winner Joanne Rich who drives on skylink Nottingham (trentbarton)

Joanne enjoys the social side of her work. She loves to drive a bus - and drives a bus better than her car. "I like to talk to 'my people' I call them," she adds. "There are a lot of regular people who get on my bus. I like they know me and know my name, You get sweets at Christmas.

"The hardest part is dealing with other traffic and roadworks. Something may happened and you have to go on a diversion in a split-second. You get a message to say where to go and that's the only less fun side of it.

"I love it when kids get on the bus and they wave at me. I always talk to them and issue them with their own ticket"

The top prize in trentbarton’s 2022-23 really good service awards went to 42-year-old Freddie Dempsey, who drives the sixes between Derby, Belper, Ripley and Bakewell. He was judged the best of the best, winning Driver of the Year at the awards ceremony at Nottingham Trent University.

Hero of the Year was, unusually, won by a couple, husband and wife drivers Tracy and Peter Hayes, who showed great teamwork to get an elderly regular home from a Sutton stop. Colleague Choice was won by Andy Worthington, a driver based at Langley Mill