Press releases

Arriva plc, the transport services organisation, has announced the appointment of Catherine Mason to the position of managing director, Arriva Midlands.

Catherine will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of all Arriva bus services in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire. Arriva Midlands employs over 1,900 people, has over 730 vehicles, and provides over 60 million passenger journeys each year.

Mrs Mason previously held the position of director of customer services and marketing at Arriva, a role which involved working with all Arriva's UK bus businesses. During her five years in that role, Catherine pioneered Arriva's groundbreaking marketing campaign - 'Going your way' - encouraging people to use their local bus services.

The campaign represented an unprecedented and unrivalled investment in the bus industry. In addition, she oversaw the largest national customer satisfaction survey undertaken by any operator in the bus industry.

Catherine, who attended Martin High School and Longslade Upper school in the region, later went on to Liverpool University to study Genetics before taking up a succession of marketing positions where she worked on high profile FMCG brands such as Lucozade, Ribena and Clover.

Commenting on Mrs Mason's appointment, David Martin, deputy chief executive for Arriva plc, said:

I am delighted that Catherine is turning her considerable skills and experience to this role. We know that for customers, a reliable and high quality service is what they expect and deserve to receive from their local Arriva bus company.

I am confident that Catherine, and the excellent team that will support her in this new role, will be able to deliver an even better service to our customers in the Midlands.

Arriva is one of the UK's largest bus operators with over 6,000 buses. Outside London, Arriva's local bus services operate in major urban areas including Liverpool, Leeds, Leicester, Glasgow and Newcastle. There is a strong presence in the Midlands and Home Counties with a mix of interurban trunk routes and market town urban networks. Arriva buses also provide important links in rural areas like North Wales.

Mrs Mason is married with two children and lives in Rothley, near Leicester.

Catherine holds PCV and HGV 3 driving licences.

Note to editors

• Arriva is one of the largest transport services organisations in Europe with operations in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. With some 30,000 employees, Arriva provides more than one billion passenger journeys every year through an extensive range of public transport services including buses, trains, commuter coaches and water buses. In the UK, the Group also operates a national vehicle rental business and is engaged in bus and coach distribution.