Paul Barlow

Said the following about Martin Riddle:

““Martin is the Driver team manager at Derby, working in the industry for over 20 years, starting out as a freight driver before moving to Cross Country as a driver and working his way up to become a Driver team manager 4 years ago. Martin oversees the management of 55 drivers, all based at Wyvern House, the depot has the largest route card within Cross Country.

The reason why I have nominated Martin is because he is so passionate about his depot and ensuring all drivers receive the appropriate support when experiencing challenging incidents. This does not stop at his own depot; Martin has played an active part in supporting local depots and ensuring the welfare of drivers is the upmost priority. A perfect example of this was last month, we received the unfortunate news that a driver required a major heart operation, the operation did not go to plan and things were looking bleak. Martin jumped into action providing support for his family and his friends / work colleagues, spending hours on the phone providing the highest level of care for everyone's wellbeing! He was told that it was unlikely the driver concerned would make it through the weekend, Martin continued to support people in his own time and visited the driver in hospital whilst in critical care. A week later we received the news that the driver had started to make progress, Martin continued to provide support never thinking about himself. The driver is now on the road to recovery and without the support Martin has given to him, family and friends it would have been more distressing for them. Another example happened a few months ago when a driver was experiencing serious personal issues, Martin provided support throughout, taking phone calls at night and in the early hours, offering to go out to the driver to offer support, really going over and above!

Martin has also stepped up to offer other managers help and support, due to a manager illness Martin took on another depot to support the manager and ensure all of our safety requirements / wellbeing of drivers were taken care of. He did all of this off his own back without any request or expectation for extra pay, working long hours, going over and above to help. Martin provides a level of care for his team and others around to the highest standard and without any hesitation. It’s fair to say throughout this time Martin has also had his own personal issues going on around him, losing his nephew at a young age and providing support for his sister and mum. Martin is a true gentleman and deserves this recognition and reward, without Martin many people would have been left to deal with significantly stressful scenarios with less support. He works hard, goes over & above, and really cares about people! An unsung hero of the railway! Please can you consider this application, as I cannot stress enough how much he deserves this award!““

Paul Barlow

Said the following about Martin Riddle:

““Martin is one of the Driver team managers at Derby, working in the industry for over 20 years, starting out as a freight driver before moving to Cross Country as a driver and working his way up to become a Driver team manager 4 years ago. Martin oversees the management of drivers based at Wyvern House, the depot has the largest route card within Cross Country.

The reason why I have nominated Martin is because he is so passionate about his depot and ensuring all drivers receive the appropriate support when experiencing challenging incidents. This does not stop at his own depot; Martin has played an active part in supporting local depots and ensuring the welfare of drivers is the utmost priority. A perfect example of this was last month, we received the unfortunate news that a driver had become seriously ill. Martin jumped into action providing support for his family and his friends / work colleagues, spending hours on the phone providing the highest level of care for everyone's wellbeing! Martin continued to support people in his own time and visited the driver in hospital whilst in critical care. A week later we received the news that the driver had started to make progress, and Martin continued to provide support. The driver is now on the road to recovery and without the support Martin has given to him, and his work colleagues it would have been more distressing for them.

Another example happened a few months ago when a driver was experiencing personal issues, Martin provided support throughout, taking phone calls at night and in the early hours, offering to go out to the driver to offer support, really going over and above! Martin has also stepped up to offer other managers help and support, due to a manager becoming ill, Martin took on another depot to support the manager and ensure all of our safety requirements/wellbeing of drivers were taken care of. He did all of this off his own back without any request or expectation for extra pay, working long hours, going over and above to help.

Martin provides a level of care for his team and others around to the highest standard and without any hesitation. Martin is a true gentleman and deserves this recognition and reward, without Martin many people would have been left to deal with significantly stressful scenarios with less support. He works hard, goes over & above, and really cares about people! An unsung hero of the railway! Please can you consider this application, as I cannot stress enough how much he deserves this award!““