TPE Comms

Said the following about Nicola May:

“Nikki May, a conductor based in TPE’s York depot, has worked at TransPennine Express for 4 years. Receiving on average 2-3 pieces of positive customer communication per period, Nikki’s passion and enthusiasm for delivering customer service excellence is well documented. With everything from a quick tweet from a customer who’s morning was instantly cheered by Nikki’s presence, to a phone-call from a tired mum whose children were kept entertained by Nikki’s on-board jokes, the sheer amount of positive customer feedback she gets is worth acknowledging. She even inspired five positive social media comments from different customers in one day!

Her efforts have also been recognised internally, with a nomination for the “Committed to Customers” award at the highly coveted BeFirst Awards, an internal group-wide award ceremony that covers FirstGroup’s rail, bus and transit divisions and over 17,000 colleagues internationally. To be shortlisted for this award from such a large pool of colleagues is testament to her ability. She also won “Newcomer of the Year” at the TransPennine Express Excellence Awards in 2013, just months after joining not only the company, but the railway industry also.

But Nikki’s talents lie in more than just delivering outstanding customer service on a daily basis. She has proven herself to be an invaluable source of new and innovative ideas. As her colleague writes; “She is always willing to join focus groups and meetings to put forward ideas on how we can improve our customers on board experience, this is something she is very passionate about.” Nikki’s idea to remove the word “between” from reservation tickets in order to make the calling points clearer to see is a simple idea that’s led to an extremely positive change for our customers. It’s this kind of innovative thinking that Nikki is known for.

But don’t just take it from us. Here are some of the many positive customer comments TPE have received about Nikki in the last year:

“She puts a smile on everyone's face with her humour and demeanour, and makes the journey much more enjoyable. A great customer service!"

“On the return journey, we were helped by your very patient rail conductor Nikki May, who I really cannot thank enough, as she helped me so much. She asked if (my young son) Theo wanted to wave the train off when we stopped at York which he was excited about, but in doing so he managed to lose his shoe under the train when getting back on. True to her word, she made sure this was retrieved later and posted it back to us, for which I am very grateful.”

“After a rubbish journey on the train I’d had been on previously, Nikki really made my day and my journey. She made all the customers laugh whilst still being professional. Nicky is a credit to TPE and I wish that she had been on the train for my entire journey.”

“Nikki May is praised for helping a profoundly deaf woman. The train lost signal near Manchester Oxford Road. The customer was anxious and worried as she could not hear any announcements. Nikki typed messages into her phone and helped the customer onto a train from Manchester to York. The customer and her family is beyond delighted and thankful with how she was assisted”.“