Given all the arguments over bankers and their ‘undeserved bonuses’, it is heartening to see train operating companies making an effort to congratulate their hardest working employees.

After all the rail industry is built on people. People use it,
work in it and make it either a success or a failure. This means that people need to work together. A good example
of this is Allan Lloyd, who scooped the award for UK Rail Outstanding Employee Achievement 2009 at FirstGroup's annual dinner.

Allan, who carries out his rail job at Nailsea and Backwell station, said: “The support from my customers is just overwhelming. I am so happy to have won this award.

“I think it helps that I love my job. My customers are the most important part of my job and it doesn’t take a lot to put a smile on your face to make their day.”

However good management means a lot more than simply just giving out awards. Rail leaders need to reassess the way in which they treat their staff, because if their front line staff were happier then everything would run far more smoothly.

Imagine a world with no strikes and where everyone just got on with their work.