Rail passengers are being invited to nominate their favourite member of staff in the first TransPennine Express customer excellence awards.

Over the next four weeks passengers can put forward the name of any member of TransPennine Express staff who they feel has provided excellent customer service.

The nomination can be for a particular one-off example of good service or regular travellers may wish to recognise a member of staff for providing consistently good service over a longer period.

Edith Rodgers, customer services director of TransPennine Express says: “We receive many encouraging letters and e mails from passengers who have been impressed with the quality of service that they have experienced. We want to formally recognise the achievements of those staff who have made a positive and lasting impression on our passengers.”

Staff who are short listed for an award will be invited to attend a special awards presentation event together with the passenger who nominated them.

In the National Passenger Survey results published earlier this week (29 Jan), 88 per cent of passengers expressed satisfaction with TransPennine Express services, an improvement of 14 per cent over autumn 2003, just prior to First TransPennine Express beginning its franchise in 2004.

TransPennine express employs 1,000 staff and receives several hundred letters of praise from passengers each year.

Passengers can e-mail their nominations to tpecustomer.relations@firstgroup.com or visit the TransPennine Express website for more details. The deadline for nominations is 28 February 2007.