There was plenty to celebrate for the team at Stagecoach East Midlands as staff marked being named the best-performing operating company across the entire Stagecoach UK network.

The achievement was celebrated in style with an open-top bus ride, recognising the hard work of employees across the region – including the team serving Skegness and the surrounding area.

Stagecoach Group operates across more than 100 towns and cities throughout the UK, employing over 25,000 people across 18 operating companies. This year, Stagecoach East Midlands came out on top after recording significant improvements across a range of performance measures.

Adding to the success, the company's Grimsby depot was also crowned the best-performing depot among Stagecoach's 115 depots nationwide.

Time to celebrate for the Stagecoach team.

placeholder image — Time to celebrate for the Stagecoach team.

The award follows a year of improvements across the business, with punctuality increasing by four per cent while non-operated journeys fell by 29 per cent. Internally caused missed journeys were reduced by an impressive 60 per cent, while avoidable accidents were down by eight per cent.

The company has also seen a 25 per cent reduction in employee injuries and staff turnover, alongside an 11 per cent fall in staff sickness, all while continuing to grow services across the region.

Matt Cranwell, Managing Director of Stagecoach East Midlands, praised the dedication of the workforce.

He said: "In such a large, national business, there is clearly a lot of competition around the regions to give the best performance for our customers. So, coming out on top is only possible because of the huge efforts put in by the team, to give the region a bus service to be proud of.

"The team are locally based so they will always go that extra mile to help to keep our local communities connected.

"Of course, this result only inspires us to want to do even better next year – as we intend to stay at the top."

Stagecoach East Midlands operates services across Lincolnshire, including routes serving Skegness, helping connect residents with neighbouring towns, villages and key destinations.

The recognition reflects the efforts of drivers, engineers, cleaners, customer service teams and support staff who work behind the scenes to keep services running reliably for passengers every day.

Passengers can find information about local bus routes, track buses in real time and purchase tickets before they travel using the Stagecoach Bus App.