Please note - The Hilton Hotel has changed ownership and is now known as the Grand Hotel Blackpool. Nothing else has changed and all arrangements remain the same.

The purpose of this website is to introduce operators, the media and the public to the BDoY Competition, to explain the various processes through which drivers reach the National Final, and to describe events during the weekend in Blackpool.

 UK Bus Driver of the Year 2017 - Adam Ksiazek of First Aberdeen.

(photo courtesy of One Special Day Photographer)

The 51st National Final of the UK Bus Driver of the Year Competition took place in Blackpool on 3rd September and among the 99 finalists from large and small operators throughout the country the overall winner was Adam Ksiazek from First Aberdeen.

Adam received the BDoY Trophy and £1,500 sponsored by the Road Operators’ Safety Council, plus £1,000 from Unite the Union as well as being awarded the John Boxall Medallion as national champion (John founded Bus Driver of the Year in Coventry in 1967). A further £1,000 was awarded to Adam as highest-placed finalist from FirstGroup, and as best competitor from a depot in Scotland he received another £100 accompanied by the Joe Mackie Shield. All the trophies were presented by Bobby Morton, National Officer of the Unite trade union responsible for docks, passenger transport, rail and waterways.

Runner-up was Michael Leech from First West Yorkshire, who won the BDoY Trophy and £1,500 and was also second-highest- placed finalist from a FirstGroup company, winning a further £500 plus £100 as best competitor from a depot in England, winning the Giles Fearnley Shield.

In third place was Scott Crosbie from Lothian Buses winning £1,000 with the BDoY Trophy plus a further £1,000 for being highest-placed finalist from a company in ALBUM - the Association of Local Bus Company Managers. Kevin McCormick from Stagecoach West Scotland finished in overall fourth place, winning £750 plus £1,000 as highest-placed Stagecoach competitor and Raj Viswanathan of Go-Ahead London was fifth, picking-up a £500 prize plus a further £1,000 with the Go-Ahead Trophy as best-placed finalist from that group and £1,000 as highest-placed driver from a company operating services for Transport for London.

Joe Mackie, Chairman of the UK Bus Driver of the Year Association, which organises the competition, offered his sincere congratulations to all the trophy winners and thanked the many volunteers who make the contest possible. "We are also", he added, "indebted to our sponsors for their generous financial support which has allowed us to maintain the enhanced range of prizes from our fiftieth anniversary last year".

Our congratulations go not only to the 5 competitors mentioned here, but to all the other 94 remaining National Finalists who have all done both themselves and their companies proud.

For a link to our main sponsor, ROSCO please click here,