Sophia Danielsson-Clayton - **HAS LEFT**

Said the following about Scott Ward:

“I am nominating Scott as he is an exemplary train driver whose announcements have really brought joy to customers in the Southend area. He makes announcements in French on the approach to Southend airport (despite not being fluent), and is one of the most eloquent and professional individuals at GA I have met.

In my job in Internal Communications for Greater Anglia, I receive a daily report from the social media team, which I then log onto an Excel chart to monitor colleagues who are receiving high feedback. Within a month I had a standout colleague - a “Scottish driver” on the Southend line. He receives incredibly positive feedback on a weekly basis, which is an unprecedented level, and easily more than any other colleague at GA.

His manager contacted me a few months ago to ask if I wanted to feature him in our in-house magazine, so I had the pleasure of interviewing him in May. I soon discovered why he is so popular - despite a mix up with timings, he came all the way back to the station just to be interviewed. He is eloquent, polite and puts himself in the customer's shoes.

What I learned was that Scott introduced French into his announcements into Southend Airport after a passenger pulled the alarm - despite everyone else having embarked and disembarked. By adding languages to his announcements (and he isn’t, by his own admission, “fluent by any means”) I really think he helps put passengers at ease - especially those travelling to the airport. His announcements are clear, concise and polite. He is considerate of customers and keeps them informed. He thinks of every customer as a worried passenger and how to put them at ease.

Here are a few of his standout compliments from Twitter in the last few months alone:

"Once again the Scottish driver of the 7.01 Wickford to Liverpool St shows how it’s done. Full communication throughout the journey, he should be training all drivers on how best to keep passengers informed during your many delays"

"Always impressed by the @greateranglia French speaking Train Driver and his announcements. Heard the announcement in French as we approached @SouthendAirport last night - very impressive. Hope there were French passengers on-board to appreciate it!"

"The Scottish driver on this train just gave a shed load of info and apologies and understanding. Your managers need to take a leaf - this guy is excellent he's now explained why we are travelling at lower speed than normal. If he starts reading us poetry, I'm gonna ask him to marry me! Service to Southend Victoria"

“Genuinely happy to hear the Scottish driver’s voice as I just got on the train at Billericay. He will soothe me through the journey with his cool, calm and helpful commentary! #favouritedriver #bestdriver”"“