Welcome to the uTrack News
Our latest post about the transport industry and technology
The Tide Is Finally Turning?
Well, who would have thought it my dear chums, after all this time it appears that according to the latest report from the guru who is my good friend Chris Cheek, the UK Bus industry has finally turned a corner. In fairness the positive signs have been sprouting for a...
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Ten Years Ago Today…..
Well here I am July 9th 2019, a milestone day in the life and times of myself. Why ? Because it was ten years ago on this very day that I said goodbye to my dear chums at the Diamond Bus Company and embarked on my new life inspired by Eamonn and Conor and the journey...
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New Balls Please…..
So, the very epitome of Englishness is once more upon us, I speak of course of Wimbledon and the lawn tennis competition where gifted athletes battle it out in the gladiatorial arena that is the 12 courts that comprise one of the worlds greatest sporting events. To be...
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Three Lions On Their Chest
I recall back in 1981 when as a young fresh faced 21 year old I was teaching Karate at a summer camp in deepest, darkest New York State, in the summer holidays. We were quite literally in the middle of nowhere, truly it was utterly isolated, and actually was quite...
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Boris Confesses That He Makes Buses Pictures In His Spare Time
I honestly do not know just what to make of Boris Johnson, if I am perfectly honest. Like many I have watched him through his career, from journalist and editor of the New Statesman, to controversial pundit, television personality, and then at some point Mayor of...
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First Glasgow About To Change Hands?
Recent reports in the Scottish press are ripe with speculation that the mighty empire which is First in Glasgow may well be about to change hands and become a Council owned Bus Company. This is of course in line with two recent changes that have taken place. The first...
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The Rotala Empire Expands As First Shrink
No real surprises really, as speculation was rife some months ago in the trade press that First were going to sell their Manchester based Bolton depot to Rotala. This was suggested when it was revealed that the Queens Road depot was to be sold to Go Ahead who have...
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CILT Diversity Challenge;A Great Day Out
The first ever Diversity challenge event took place at the Newark Show ground on Wednesday 26th of June. I was delighted to be invited to attend by the dynamo that is Anna Delvachio from Amey, she was parachuted in by Sir Peter Hendy CBE, and the President of CILT...
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The Rise And Fall Of The UK Bus Giants…
I suppose that it is truth that the older that you get, the more you begin to understand what you might call the circle of life. Yes, a well known Elton John soundtrack to a well known film and west end show. But, maybe more importantly what I am learning as I enter...
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Trouble At Mill At Firstgroup…
As someone who was there at almost the beginning of the First Group journey back in 1987, when it most certainly was not the huge beast that it was to become. It is genuine sadness that I look at just what is going on today. The bitter internal civil war that rages...
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The New Prime Minister..And The Race For Number Ten
I missed the channel 4 debate on Sunday night I was out being a dad with my wonderful daughter enjoying a rather splendid Tapas feast in a very nice Spanish restaurant in Mosley. However, I did manage to watch the highlights such as they were as selected by various...
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Death By A Thousand Cuts For OAP’s; Free TV, Air Ambulance, Rural Buses?
Hard to think that it was only last week that the world’s attention was focused on the last remaining proud men and women who had been the first on the beach on that fateful day 75 years ago on June 6th 1944. Quite rightly the thanks of world leaders were rightly...
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The Conservative Leadership Race; Snort!
I took a bit of time this weekend to do something that I do not do as often s I used to back in the day before mobile phones, and social media. Yes I actually read a newspaper, it was a strange but uplifting experience, indeed it took me right back through time and...
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Bucking The Bus Trend In Rural Shropshire
To be perfectly honest I did not think that I would ever be writing a blog like this one, I genuinely thought that the rural bus network was in the hospice stage, clinging on to fading life support systems to keep it from passing over onto the other side. Indeed I...
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Goodbye Mrs May; The Poison Chalice Won!
It would be fair and accurate to say that my impression and perception of Mrs May, has been seriously variable if I am quite honest. I was significantly unimpressed when she was the Home Secretary, where the austerity measures included a dramatic down sizing of the...
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Reverence And Respect In Normandy
So, June 6th 2019 was the right time and place to celebrate the valiant bravery of those from all nations who fought to liberate Europe. It was a moving day with some amazing stories from men who were almost all aged 90 or over with some over 100 years old. The...
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The D Day Landings 75 Years On…
When I was a young boy growing up in Britain in the nineteen sixties, my staple diet of comics was The Victor and The Hotspur. They were full of stories of heroism and and playing the game in the right way, and being a decent sport, and all round good egg. Most of the...
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The First 500 Glasgow Airport Service; A Class Act
I have been lucky to visit Glasgow quite a few times over the years, it is a City that I like very much, the people are very warm and friendly and once you get used to the unique accent most Glaswegians that I have met have been extremely funny and entertaining...
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