July has been a month of awards success for Metroline as several of our talented team received awards at two major industry events last week.
Jacqui Carter, Head of Recruitment and Training, received the lifetime achievement award at the London Bus Awards on Thursday 17th July. Hosted at London’s Living Room at City Hall in Newham, the London Bus Awards marked 25 years of Transport for London by celebrating employees from across the London bus industry. Jacqui was recognised for her remarkable career at Metroline spanning more than 25 years including her mentorship of many female employees and managers.
Jacqui is one of Metroline’s most experienced and respected managers with a remarkable career
spanning more than 25 years. She began her journey at Metroline in 1998 as a driver and quickly progressed to roles in driver training and transport safety thanks to her passion and enthusiasm for the role. Her dedication and skill led her to become an Operations Manager in 2007 and, subsequently, a Garage Manager in 2013.
Today, as Head of Recruitment and Training, Jacqui finds great satisfaction in helping others achieve their goals with her approachable and inclusive leadership style. Despite stepping into the role temporarily as an Interim Head, she has recently been permanently established in the post, a testament to her impact in the department.
There was also success once again for Metroline’s engineers at the 2025 IRTE Skills Challenge Awards, which took place on Wednesday 16th July in Wolverhampton. Calum Beltrami was named winner in the Mechanical Technician category, and Bradley Thomas, Viren Harsiani and James Ward named Runner-Up in the Electrical Apprentice, Electric Driveline and Body Technician categories respectively.
Recommended by their Engineering Managers and guided by Training Manager Wayne Ellis, it was a fantastic opportunity for participants to challenge themselves and see how their technical skills measure up.
Calum is a former apprentice who qualified in 2022. He has gone on to be an accomplished engineer
and continues to advance himself through attending continuous training. His managers have been
quoted as saying he is an asset their garage. Bradley is a 3rd year apprentice who will be taking his exams next April. He is a talented apprentice who has a proclivity for electrics. His tutors have fed back he
is top of the class and will go far.
Viren is a 2nd year apprentice going into his 3rd year in September. He is progressing well through his course and is demonstrating all the attributes of becoming a future high-level engineer. James is a seasoned coachmaker that has the skills and knowledge to repair our vehicles to the highest possible standards. He has been a mentor to various apprentices and has shown the patience and skills to guide these to becoming some of the best in the business.
Speaking about the Challenge, Wayne Ellis said, “I am very proud of all of the technicians that have participated in the Skills Challenge this year as well as all of the previous entrants. They continue to
push themselves and compete against the best in the industry taking them out of their comfort zones. They strive to do their best and continue to win awards year on year. I look forward to next year’s competition where we will be pushing ourselves to be more successful than ever.”
A big well done to Aaron Dias, Dominic Jones, Ian Schmidt Jr and Gary Walsh who also represented Metroline in the challenge.
Congratulations to all on their achievements.
