Stagecoach and the life of Brian

Brian Souter has been described as controversial, contradictory and ruthless.

Brian Souter displays his controversial side by taunting PTEG at a conference on bus deregulation last October. He appeared alongside a life-size plastic dinosaur - Ptegasaurus - which he said symbolised the ‘prehistoric agenda’ of PTEG

Brian Souter displays his controversial side by taunting PTEG at a conference on bus deregulation last October. He appeared alongside a life-size plastic dinosaur - Ptegasaurus - which he said symbolised the ‘prehistoric agenda’ of PTEG

Stagecoach has achieved a massive 75% increase in the bus passengers in Cambridge. Brian Souter says this figure could be replicated across the country if local authorities are prepared to put in park and ride schemes and bus priority measures

Stagecoach has achieved a massive 75% increase in the bus passengers in Cambridge. Brian Souter says this figure could be replicated across the country if local authorities are prepared to put in park and ride schemes and bus priority measures

“Whatever happens, you’ll enjoy it,” predicted a long-time associate of Brian Souter when he heard I was interviewing the maverick chief executive of Stagecoach. “He is very entertaining,” he added confidently.

Ten minutes into the interview and those words are starting to have a hollow ring. Souter, in trademark dress-down attire, sits hunched in his seat in the uninspiring surroundings of a half-empty restaurant next door to London’s Liverpool Street...