The RailStaff Awards 2024

Tom Bull

Great Western Railway

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Carolina Molina

Said the following about Tom Bull:

“Tom was the main contact person that guided the train manager and other colleagues through the events of the broken down train outside of Exeter St David's on the 13 September 2018.

He was very diligent in dealing with all types of requests all at the same time and of completely different natures (flight for a customer who had a particular case, cabs for others and more technical types of request to guide the train manager manage the situation the best way for our customers).

Tom was my main point of contact for anything our customers on board needed. Particularly a customer who had a close family member died recently and was on the way to the funeral when our train broke down. This passenger didn't speak English so between myself and a translator, I managed to send all the necessary information that Tom had diligently requested to make it all happen. He patiently waited for us to gather all information and was very helpful in guiding me on how to manage other customers' requests.

Due to the increasing amount of customers requests for cabs and other needs, Tom made sure to assemble a welcome committee to receive our customers once we got back to Exeter, after having evacuated the broken train.

Tom spread out the word to leaders throughout the company, to let them know what was happening and made sure they were there to make the necessary decisions to offer the best experience for our customers.

He was meant to go home and finish his shift at about 22:00, but stayed in touch booking hotels for colleagues that had to travel on the train in order to help out and making sure us and our customers were all OK until past 4am.

Tom's involvement resulted in a great performance of our on board colleagues, which in turn where able to provide a great and very caring experience for those customers that were stranded and delayed. Customers have recognised these efforts since in social media and other channels.

None of this would've been possible without Tom's support and unconditional willingness to serve our customers. It is a great privilege to have been able to work alongside him that night, and be guided by his experienced approach.“