Of Olympic Proportions

In a move that will probably see the largest span of control for any single English operational managing director ever, Marc Reddy prepares to take over the reigns at First Hampshire & Dorset... in addition to his current managing directorship at First Devon & Cornwall. This is no merger, though, but a secondment. And Reddy’s return to First Hampshire & Dorset is exactly four years after he departed westbound along the A35.

Excluding outstations, the distance between his furthest garages (Penzance & Barnstaple) used to be a mere 107 miles. Now, from Penzance to Portsmouth, it becomes 241 miles. Truly of Olympic proportions. Even the former Stagecoach South garage extremities of Winchester and Dover and the former Arriva North West & Wales boundary garages of Bolton and Aberystwyth, Wales fail to impress.

Team work will be everything. Otherwise, managing such far-flung (and not to mention diverse) operations will bring challenges that will only lead to the doctor’s door. Reddy scores in that he knows both areas well and the stakeholders therein. But at least Reddy can spent just that little more time at home. Reddy still lives in Bournemouth (and, let’s face it, who can blame him).

And the move, which takes place a week on Monday, results from First Hampshire & Dorset’s MD Richard Soper moving to First Manchester to cover a vacancy created by the secondment of MD Andrew Scholey. Scholey moves to First UK Bus to cover two projects aslo of Olympic proportions, both of which are of vital interest to First: leading on the Competition Commission enquiry—fundamental to First’s business interests—and assisting in planning for the Olympic Delivery Authority contract for spectator transport. The latter will finish in 2012 while the former will probably finish in 2011. With some relief after their completion, expect Scholey to throw a couple of huge parties when both these projects come to fruition.

Frivolity aside, work for the CC inquiry is expected to require an olympiad. It will be long, hard, detailed, time consuming and, frankly, an utter pain that diverts from running buses in a challenging economic environment. For Scholey, imagine trying to corral each operating subsidiary to supply information promptly ahead of CC deadlines. The CC has already called for information with some pretty unrealistic timescales.

Returning to Reddy, those who scoured Tuesday’s Notices & Proceedings will have come across an application for a new operator’s licence with, you guessed it, Marc Reddy as an authorised transport manager. Currently, the O licence is under the Truronian name, with Reddy’s Plymouth operating address. Note the other transport manager, engineering director Phil Pannel. Always felt Pannel was an interesting name for a mechanical engineer.