FULWELL bus garage has been named as one of the best in London for customer service. The headquarters of London United has been shortlisted as one of seven finalists in the Transport for London Bus Garage of the Year award. The company scored a double whammy as the only firm to have two garages shortlisted this year, since its Tolworth depot was also named as a finalist.

The award is open to dozens of garages - all those operating London bus contracts with a scheduled mileage of one million miles or more a year. The shortlist was based on overall performance in the year to July 2004 in terms of customer satisfaction, including complaints and commendations from passengers, service quality, availability of wheelchair ramps and driver quality monitoring.

The judges are looking for the garage that offered the best quality of service to the travelling public and which, in their opinion, has the best practice and policies to sustain this level of service.

The winner will be announced on November 18.

at the national Bus Industry Awards 2004 and will receive a cash prize to benefit staff facilities at the garage.

TfL's managing director of surface transport, Peter Hendy, said: "With around six million passenger trips a day on London's buses the quality of service provided by the capital's bus garages is as important as ever. Well done to all the staff in the final seven garages; I look forward to congratulating the winner in November."

London United has its head office at Fulwell and has five other garages. The company runs 650 buses on 56 routes and is owned by the French Transdev group.

Charlie Beaumont, London United's managing director, said: "We are delighted to again be in the running for these awards, which are proof of the commitment and dedication shown by the employees of London United and the investment and support by Transdev."