Charles Newitt

Experience

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  The Conservative Party (UK)

  Sept 2007 - Jun 2008

  Charles was seconded over to the Boris Johnson Mayoral campaign in January of 2008. Whilst working for the campaign he had two titles;Flying Squad Co-ordinatorTelephone Canvassing ManagerPrimary Target;Ensure that turnout amongst Conservative voters was highGet Out the Vote considered crucial to the campaignKey responsibilities;Flying Squad Co-ordinator:- Recruit new volunteers for the campaign- Assess and log key details for each volunteer- Develop a strategy to utilise each volunteer to their maximum potential- Develop a strategy to ensure messages regarding the campaign were targeted effectively - Ensure volunteers remain motivated and passionate about the campaign- Effective planning so when volunteers arrive for their shift all details and leaflets are immediately available to themTelephone Canvassing Manager- Run a call centre of 25 volunteers- Drive targets to ensure maximum use of the time available- Motivate the volunteers to drive productivity- Organise incentives to further motivate volunteers- Ensure the call centre script was effective- Present the results to the campaign staff every morning and analyse the findingsBoris Johnson was duly elected Mayor of London in May 2008 polling 6% higher than his closest opponent. Turnout was a record high so the Get Out the Vote effort can be said to be highly successful. Show less

  • Flying Squad Co-ordinator & Telephone Canvassing Manager

    Jan 2008 - Jun 2008

  • Campaign Agent

    Sept 2007 - Jan 2008
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  Exposed Solutions

  Jun 2008 - Nov 2008

  Recruitment Consultant

  Charles' role was to search and place highly skilled workers within the IT industry.Key responsibilities;- High levels of activity, often making over 100 phone calls per day- Searching for high profile clients to enter into negotiations with- Breaking through PSLs and becoming new suppliers to large companies including HMV & New Look- Ensuring that when negotiating rates the best deal was agreed for the business- Evaluating which candidates were worth spending time interviewing- Ensuring all candidates put forward for roles met perfectly with the clients expectations- Managing every step of the interview process ensuring candidates were well prepared and confident- Managing relationships with clients to increase the likelihood of repeat businessResults;- Relationships built with key clients such as HMV and New Look that endured after Charles left the business- Placed multiple candidates with multiple clients- High satisfaction rate from both candidates and clients- Broke company records for levels of activity within single days Show less

• 

  Exterion Media

  Dec 2008 - Jun 2014

  Delivery Manager

  • My key responsibilities included;• Poster Delivery, accountability and people managemento Ensuring all campaigns are posted on-time, safely and to a high presentational standardo Effective planning to ensure that these demands are met within budget and time deadlineso Adopt a flexible approach to changing demands and priorities within the business to ensure that clients are always being provided with the best service possibleo Plan ahead to ensure our resources are being used in the most effective mannero Ensure that all Health & Safety legislation is adhered to and performance in this regard is monitored closelyo Creating and regularly updating Health & Safety documentation relevant to the tasks being carried out by the posting teams. This is done in close liaison with our Franchise Partners to ensure they are satisfied with our procedureso Conduct regular inspections to ensure that standards are being met or exceededo Provide detailed feedback and act on findings of all inspectionso Develop and maintain good working relationships with our posting teams, and internal and external stakeholderso Liaise closely with our franchise partners to ensure that our relationships remain close and beneficial to both partieso Motivate our posting teams to always maintain high performance and to be responsive to changing needs or deadlines• Budget managemento Create and update budgets covering various activities in my departmento Look for ways to reduce costs by negotiating preferable rates with supplierso Plan ahead to ensure budgetary targets are going to be met or exceededo Effective future planning to reduce unexpected costs to the business• Administration managemento Create and update contracts for our posting teamso Ensure all health & safety documentation is correctly updated, logged and recorded o Manage disciplinary hearingso Ensure all posting work is correctly logged and recorded to enable accurate information to be relayed to our clients Show less

• 

  Go Ahead London

  Jul 2014 - Jun 2023

  Dimensions: 550 drivers, 3 managers, 8 supervisors, 4 administrators. Budget 2021/22 £49million. Profit 2021/22 £6millionResponsibilities: Overall responsibility for the effective running of two bus garages. This includes profit and loss, health & safety, serious disciplinary issues with potential to lead to dismissal, long term sickness and medical dismissals, appeals and grievances, coaching and development of my management team.Key achievements include;• Following contract retentions it was decided to electrify part of the fleet. This meant creating a plan to install the infrastructure required as well as amending parking layouts and run out plans. This involved engaging with key stakeholders throughout the business to agree the correct approach, and when the time came ensuring that all colleagues were trained to operate the new vehicles safely. • Training and developing several new members of the supervisory and management teams to help them advance in their careers and help with the successful operation of both depots. Show less Dimensions: 950 drivers, 7 managers, 11 supervisors,7 administrators. Budget 2020/21 £72.1million. Profit 2020/21 £9.9millionResponsibilities: Overall responsibility for the effective running of three bus garages. This includes profit and loss, health & safety, serious disciplinary issues with potential to lead to dismissal, long term sickness and medical dismissals, appeals and grievances, coaching and development of my management team.Key achievements include;• Following a contract win route 69 would launch in May 2021 as a fully electric bus route, a first in these garages. This would require a new purpose-built bus garage at Henley Road to be built. I took on a project management role in ensuring this happened to the required timescales, identifying what resource and facilities would be required, identifying and resolving issues as they arose, and seeing the route launch successfully and on schedule. • We were informed at River Road garage that we would be losing a section of land to the rear of the garage from July 2021. This would necessitate the moving of routes and driving colleagues from River Road to Henley Road. Again, I took on a project management role, identifying the affected colleagues, developing a plan to move both colleagues and vehicles across on time and working closely with the Trade Union to ensure concerns colleagues may have were addressed and eased.• When I arrived at these locations, I noted that there were significant efficiencies that could be brought in leading to financial savings for the business. These were phased in over time to ease the transition and by the end of the financial year all garages were utilising colleagues and resources far better than they were at the beginning. Show less Dimensions: 750 drivers, 5 managers, 12 supervisors, 6 administrators. Budget 2019/20 £54.5million, Profit 2019/20 £10.4million.Responsibilities: Overall responsibility for the effective running of two bus garages. This includes profit and loss, health & safety, serious disciplinary issues with potential to lead to dismissal, long term sickness and medical dismissals, appeals and grievances, coaching and development of my management team.Key achievements include; • In November 2019 Orpington suffered a large fire which destroyed eleven buses, two weeks before the launch of a new route. I took on the role of site coordinator during the fire to ensure there was a coherent plan being communicated to all on site and to the company directors. By 1045 the garage had resumed a full service, utilizing the vehicles we had prepared for the arrival of the new route 51. This then gave us two weeks to ensure that the launch of route 51 on December 8th went to plan. We achieved this and the route launched without issue as planned.• Orpington garage was successful in tender wins for routes 227 & 208. Having studied the numbers, Orpington was predicted to be 25% driving colleagues short, a number I felt was unsustainable. I therefore took the decision to transfer route 51 from Orpington to Bexleyheath garage to share the shortage and make coverage easier. Whilst this was not an especially popular decision, I felt that it was the only way that we were going to meet service. • Focus on the development and progression of colleagues at both of my locations. In the past year, I have seen three colleagues successfully promoted. While undoubtedly the individuals are responsible for their successes, I support and encourage all those who I work with to fulfil their career ambitions. I would like to believe that my influence and guidance has played some part in the success of these four colleagues. • All KPIs for both garages exceeded budget targets and improved year on year. Show less Dimensions: 500 drivers, 2 managers, 6 supervisors and 6 administrators, Budget 2017/18 £34.1million, Profit 2017/18 £3.4million.Responsibilities: Overall garage performance including profit and loss, health & safety, serious disciplinary issues leading to dismissal, long term sickness and medical dismissals, appeals & grievances.• The Operating Manager role at Orpington has some significant differences to the role at Peckham. With two Assistant Operating Managers predominately dealing with day-to-day issues my focus is upon improving garage performance. Key achievements include;• Introducing weekly team meetings to drive garage performance and better co-operation between departments. This has helped better understand mileage issues and driven performance forward.• Improving colleague engagement through ‘Meet the Manager’ sessions where issues can be raised and discussed. A number of improvements have resulted, for example a resolution to a problem with mirrors on MEC buses.• All accident KPIs and costs have improved month on month during my time in Orpington.• A greater focus has been established to tackle mileage issues such as Other Deductible lost mileage and OP03 issues. Processes have been introduced to improve these areas with buy-in sought from a wide range of stakeholders. Show less Peckham Bus Garage Dimensions: 250 drivers, 4 supervisors and 2 administrators, Budget £20.8million, Profit £3million.Responsibilities: Mileage performance, profit & loss, health & safety, accident prevention, managing attendance and long-term sickness, discipline, staff utilisation, Bus Customer Experience Surveys, DQM, payroll, other miscellaneous tasks.• Initially as acting Operating Manager and then promoted to Operating Manager in October 2015.• The only manager based at the garage, and so responsible for all aspects of garage performance. This provided first-hand experience of all different departments and roles within a bus garage operation.• Delivered noticeable improvements in performance against all key metrics;o Staff and Other Deductible lost mileage and Absence rates below budgeto Accident costs were £16,963 better than budget and both accident cost per driver and accident cost per 100,000 miles had fallen over the past 12 monthso Staff retention levels were the second highest in the businesso Recent PHSC & TfL Health and Safety audits were of a high standardo Mileage audits consistently showed high standards and improvement• Accidents were targeted as a key area of improvement and the need to appoint an Accident Prevention Supervisor was key to delivering this despite this not being usual at a garage of Peckham’s size. A business case was created and approved by the Directors.• I also ran several initiatives designed to develop staff engagement in line with the companies Vision and Values. This included regular Monday afternoon stand visits to meet with drivers, open forums with guest speakers from other departments and stakeholders and increased communication of garage performance and results.• I was also asked to run three Visions and Values sessions for engineering colleagues. These are usually run by a General Manager but on three occasions I was asked to cover these sessions which I believe I did very effectively. Show less • I started work for Go Ahead London in July 2014 in my role of Assistant Operating Manager.• My role was to assist in the successful operation of a busy bus garage. I was based at Camberwell garage, one of the busiest in London.• My primary responsibilities were;o Dealing with Public Complaints in an efficient and timely manner, whilst also dealing with the drivers responsible.o Interviewing drivers following Mystery Traveller Assessments.o Managing all aspects of new driver’s probation period.o Following up on reports received from controllers regarding a variety of issues on the road.o Dealing with any reports generated by the garage Mileage Clerks.o Managing drivers who were failing to follow company procedures, such as failing to sign of their module or their bus where instructed.o Liaising with the Operating Manager, Accident Prevention Manager, Performance Manager and General Manager to ensure the garage was meeting its performance targets.• Whilst at Camberwell I also began to manage all aspects of the Senior Garage Administrators jobs, a task previously carried out by the Operating Manager.• I introduced new ways of monitoring Public Complaints, Mystery Travellers Reports and Probationers in order to better monitor long term trends and repeat problem areas or drivers.• I established an audit system for the garage’s visitor’s book as this was identified as an area of weakness by company directors. 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  • General Manager - Merton & Waterside Way Depots

    Feb 2022 - Jun 2023

  • General Manager - River Road, Henley Road & Silvertown Depots

    Aug 2020 - Feb 2022

  • General Manager - Bexleyheath & Orpington Depots

    May 2018 - Jul 2020

  • Operating Manager - Orpington Depot

    Sept 2017 - May 2018

  • Operating Manager - Peckham Depot

    Mar 2015 - Sept 2017

  • Assistant Operating Manager - Camberwell Depot

    Jul 2014 - Mar 2015
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  Arcus FM

  Jul 2023 - now

  Depot Operations Manager