Changes at the top for National Express as bus chief quits
TRANSPORT group National Express has been forced to make a change to senior management at its bus operations after the man heading the division quit.
David Kaye had been in post for less than a year but the Birmingham-based group said he had now left the company with immediate effect.
It said Mr Kaye’s decision had been made for personal reasons and it would be appointing finance chief Peter Coates as interim managing director of the buses operation, which includes Travel West Midlands.
The impact of his departure was dulled following announcement by National Express of a major US acquisition .
National Express brought Mr Kaye on board late last year with the aim of turning the operation around. It said it wanted to “extend performance towards best-in-class” with improvements to customer service and further fleet investment.
The 47-year-old joined the group with following an extensive 30 year career in the transport industry which started as a traffic clerk in West Yorkshire. From there he climbed the career ladder at North Western Trains and Great Eastern Trains before becoming Operations Director for First Group in 2004 and Chief Operating Officer in 2008.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, Institute of Railway Operators and an Alumni of Harvard Business School, he replaced Neil Barker, who took on the new role of European Development Director.
The announcement had little impact on the group’s share price, which closed the day down 0.54%.
