ON THE MOVE

Customers are the focus of my job. But it’s a very dynamic, wide-ranging role with a lot of responsibility. I oversee almost every operational aspect of the stations I cover on the East London Line, including planning, infrastructure, station upkeep and colleague development.

This is one of the busiest parts of the railway. We have up to 16 trains per hour passing through, and not just London Overground – we also have customers of Southern and South Eastern and passengers changing services from Gatwick Airport and London Underground. Luckily, I have a great team of people supporting me to keep things moving.

I used to work on the buses. I’ve been with Arriva for 16 years. I started as a bus driver before moving to trains in March 2020 as a service delivery manager. I felt there were good opportunities to develop my career on the railway. I had transport experience, but this was a very different business. There were many more operational details to comprehend and many different stakeholders to liaise with, but I have been very well supported.

I joined ARL days before the first COVID-19 lockdown. I started on a Monday, and I was at home like everyone else by Friday! For five weeks, there was not much moving on the network at all. That was strange and challenging, but it gave me time to get to know the business and it meant I quickly learned to manage in difficult circumstances. That was good preparation for when the network fully reopened, and I had incredible support from everyone around the business.

It is important to take time to relax and unwind. I play football and basketball and love listening to live music, especially jazz. Anything that helps me chill after a busy day.