A DEDICATED driver is celebrating reaching four decades of service to a local bus company this year.
Long-serving Dave Giles has been recalling the many changes he has seen at Reading Buses, including its move to Great Knollys Street, where the headquarters are currently based.
For Dave, 69, who lives in Reading, is celebrating 40 years of service with one of the town's best-known transport companies, having joined the business in 1980.
He has experienced many changes in that time - both in the town and to the company.
The bus operator, which serves Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham, Fleet, Didcot, Henley-on-Thames and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire, has been running since 1901.
Dave has many memories of working in the industry as the town changed during the past 40 years.
He said: "I have certainly seen the company evolve over those 40 years which has been an interesting experience."
Whilst Dave is marking 40 years, Academy trainer Luke Ballard has hit the impressive 20 year mark.
Luke, 42, of Woodley, is also a familiar face at the Great Knollys Street depot where he helps train the new recruits that come through the company.
Having joined Reading Buses at the start of the new Millenium, he has helped hundreds of drivers gain their bus licence and has sent them out onto Reading’s busy roads.
“It is congratulations to both Dave and Luke for reaching these amazing milestones,” said Reading Buses HR Director Caroline Anscombe.
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