FirstGroup chief to step down after 21 years with company

Sir Moir Lockhead, a former mechanical engineer who has turned the company into one of the largest transport operators in Britain and America with 130,000 staff, will step down on March 31.

He will be succeeded by former London Underground boss Tim O'Toole, who joined the Aberdeen-based company as deputy chief executive in June.

Sir Moir, 65, has been chief executive and deputy chairman of FirstGroup since its formation in 1995. He led an employee buyout of the council-owned Aberdeen city municipal bus operator Grampian Regional Transport (GRT) Group in 1989, when he worked there as a general manager.

FirstGroup was formed as FirstBus in 1995 through the merger of the Badgerline Group and the GRT Group, with fleets in England, Wales and Scotland.

Sir Moir, who was knighted in 2008, took the company from 500 staff to become the largest transport operator in Britain and America, running bus, rail and freight services worth 6bn a year.

Its UK rail franchises include First Great Western, First ScotRail and First Hull Trains, while it also operates the Greyhound coach service in North America.

FirstGroup's shares closed 1.9p down last night at 349.50p.