PROFILE: On the buses with Ian Morgan, Trent Barton

East Midlands bus boss Ian Morgan has been presented with his OBE at Buckingham Palace by HRH Prince Charles.

The honour recognised Morgan’s service to public transport and the community after 43 years in the industry, including 30 years as a director of Wellglade Group which owns Trentbarton, Kinchbus and other bus operators.

He talked to TheBusinessDesk.com about his career and how the East Midlands is pioneering the public transport revolution.

Can you give a brief run-through of your career so far?
I graduated from Birmingham University in 1972 with a BSc Hons in Pure Chemistry, and as I couldn’t find a job in the chemical or oil industries I applied to be a management trainee with the state owned National Bus Company (NBC). I had been a bus conductor during the holidays while I was at University. I worked at NBC subsidiaries Eastern National in Essex and United in North Yorkshire before rising through the management grades at the Ribble company based in Preston. I worked in Burnley, Morecambe and Preston during my eleven years at the company.

In the early days I worked as a conductor, a driver and an inspector and even spent some time cleaning and servicing buses with the engineering department. I’m proud to say that I have at one time or another done every job in a bus company.

In 1985 I came to Trent Buses as it then was and I was part of the management team that led the management and employee buyout of the company in 1986 when we returned the business to the private sector after 18 years of nationalisation.

I became commercial director of Trent as we grew the business and acquired five other local bus companies including Barton Buses and Kinchbus. I moved up into our holding company Wellglade in 2009 as deputy chairman.

To what do you attribute your success?
I have always strongly believed in being open, honest and straightforward with people. We are a people business – we employ large numbers of people and we carry thousands of customers every day, so relationships are crucial. Our staff are our greatest asset and they are entirely focussed on meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations. It’s a great team and they are the reason for our success.

What are your views on the how the government is helping your industry? Is it doing enough? What more could it do?
The Government is not really helping our business at all at the moment as they are seeking to introduce legislation which will allow local authorities to take control of our business by what they call franchising although in reality it is simply contracting. Local authority control of bus services was a huge failure in the ’60s and ’70s. It resulted in a huge loss of patronage and spiralling taxpayer subsidies, which is why the Thatcher government in 1986 put a stop to it by privatising and commercialising the industry. Since then taxpayer subsidy has fallen to a relatively small rebate on fuel, and passenger decline has been halted – in this part of the country it has actually grown.

Customer satisfaction currently stands at an all time high of about 90 per cent. I have great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that a Conservative governemnt as part of its devolution agenda wants to turn the clock back 30 years and allow local authorities to take control of bus services away from the private sector. They should heed the lessons from the past.

How do you plan to grow your business?
We will grow our business in the same way that we have grown it in the past, by making sure that we deliver and exceed our customers’ expectations, first time, every time. We have to make the time that our customers spend with us on our buses as pleasant and as hassle free as possible – that will attract more of them.

Has the East Midlands got it right in terms of a joined-up transport policy? What more could be done?
The East Midlands public transport networks are pretty good, and rank very highly against other regions. Nottingham, for instance, has a higher use of public transport per capita than any other UK city except London – that’s very impressive. But there is a lot more that we can do, and we are certainly not complacent.

We will achieve more by working together in partnership – transport operators, local authorities, Government, business and the voluntary sector. In my experience the partnerships in the East Midlands work very well and we have a sound base on which to build an even better transport network.

Getting personal…

How old are you?
64

Do you have family?
My wife of 33 years, Sylvia and two sons Joe, 30 and Tom, 29. Joe and his wife Sarah are expecting to present us with our first grandchild in May.

What are your main hobbies/interests?
I am a keen sportsman although playing is now confined to the golf course. I played and coached cricket for many years and still watch England abroad in the winter and Derbyshire in the summer. I also played football, hockey and squash years ago but my season ticket at Derby County is the extent of my football activity now. I have a keen interest in wine and wine tasting and we like to travel and visit other countries. We are off to Siberia, Mongolia and Japan on Saturday – that will extend my countries visited list to 71. I also love attending music festivals – particularly Glastonbury when I can get a ticket. We are doing the Isle of Wight again this year.

Favourite film?
Lawrence of Arabia

Favourite book?
Wisden

Who inspires you most?
Anyone who delivers exemplary customer service.

Tell me something random about yourself
I can sing “How much is that doggy in the window?” backwards.

How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?
Most days – none

What’s your favourite local restaurant?
The Winery in Burton on Trent