Staff at South West Trains’ stations are celebrating after the winners of the company’s annual Station Pride Awards were announced on Friday. Now in their 13th year, the awards look to recognise the best of the company’s 177 stations under the categories of Best Small Station, Best Medium Station, Best Large Station and Highly Commended.
The judging panel for this year included Steve Morgan, Area Commander London South area for the British Transport Police, Jocelyn Pearson and Mike Clark from Passenger Focus as well as South West Trains’ Customer Service Director Ian Johnston. Richard Anderson and Lisa Basham, Area Managers for South West Trains, and Pauline Edwards from the Station Support Team also took part in the judging.
Parkstone was named Best Small Station this year. The judges were particularly impressed with the station staffs positive attitude and creative initiatives to welcome passengers to Parkstone and deliver the best possible customer service.
In the medium stations category, Feltham was named as winner due to the outstanding care and attention given to passengers by the staff there, sometimes in very difficult circumstances.
Bournemouth picked up the award for Best Large Station. Judges praised the staff there for their environmentally-friendly pioneering attitude, with measures to encourage recycling and a pilot scheme to install chemical-free toilets.
Hamworthy received a highly commended award for the way the station staff had transformed the station into a safe, clean and welcoming environment from being a station that was considered to be unattractive as well as suffering from anti-social behaviour and litter.
Ian Johnston, Customer Service Director for South West Trains added: “These awards recognise the hard work and dedication of our staff in very different circumstances from small to large stations and sometimes operating in an extremely challenging environment. For many passengers travelling with us, the station is their first contact with South West Trains so it’s absolutely crucial that they start their journey with a positive impression”.
Ashwin Kumar, Passenger Focus rail director, said: “Stations and station staff are a crucial part of the passengers’ rail journey. We are pleased to be part of the process which recognises excellent service.”