Sir Brian Souter (born 5 May 1954) is a Scottish businessman. With his sister, Ann Gloag, he founded the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...

of bus and rail operators. He also founded the bus and coach operator Megabus, the

train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT operated the majori ...

, his investments company Souter Holdings Ltd, and the Souter Charitable Trust. Souter has been politically active in Scotland, and supported the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP) financially. In 2000, when the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

proposed to repeal Section 2A of the Local Government Act, which prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality", Souter started the

Keep the Clause campaign The Keep the Clause campaign was a privately funded political campaign organised in 2000 with the aim of resisting the repeal of legislation known as Section 28, Clause 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 in Scotland and the United Kingdom, whi ...

to oppose their plans, spending £1 million of his own money to organise a private referendum across Scotland. This campaign and other controversial statements have led opponents to accuse him of

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

. In 2011, he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

for services to transport and the voluntary sector. The honour was criticised by

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

politicians and by

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

campaigners. In October 2019, Souter announced the donation of 28% of the total shares in Souter Investments to charitable causes, with an estimated value of £109 million. This was described in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' as "what could be the largest charitable donation by a Scot since ...

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

". This came after Souter's charitable trust had already spent over £98 million supporting "13,000 worthwhile causes" over 13 years. According to the '' Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2020, Souter and his sister Ann Gloag are worth £730 million, a decrease of £145 million from the previous year.

Life and career

Childhood and education

Souter was born in the Scottish city of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. His father was a bus driver and as a child Brian often travelled on bus routes with his father.intervoew
on

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

, 18 November 2014 At school he developed an interest in economics and accounts, about which he later said, "Changing my timetable from maths to include economics and accounts was one of the best things I've ever done." On leaving school, he studied at the Dundee Institute of Technology (which became

Abertay University Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...

in 1994) to become a commerce teacher. On completion he studied at Strathclyde University in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, where he graduated with a CA Diploma in Accountancy and Economics. Following his graduation, Souter became a Chartered Accountant at

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

& Co.

Stagecoach

Using his father's redundancy money, with his sister Ann Gloag and his brother-in-law Robin Gloag he established the

in 1980, running buses from

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

to London. Following the deregulation of bus services in Great Britain, expansion continued, and in the late 1980s Stagecoach acquired National Bus Company subsidiaries in Cumberland and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, and the East Midlands, Ribble, Southdown and

United Counties The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario. The Province has four types of ...

companies. Stagecoach also bought bus operations in Scotland,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, with

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

being added a few years later. In 1993, Stagecoach was valued at £134 million and was floated on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

to access capital for new opportunities for buses and trains overseas. By the mid-1990s, Stagecoach developed its interests in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The company further expanded with the purchase of Citybus, an operator of buses and ferries in Hong Kong, and

Coach USA Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the ...

. Stagecoach then bought a number of the new small bus companies and ran free or low-fare buses to put local rivals out of business. In

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, Stagecoach subsidiary

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The origins of Busw ...

offered bounties to recruit drivers from the existing bus service and offered free buses to deter the rival preferred bidder from taking over that service. This practice was deemed as "predatory, deplorable and against the public interest" according to the

Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...

. In 2009, Souter received a £1.6 million bonus. Stating "it was felt that in the present economic climate it would not be right for any individual to pocket a bonus package of £1.6million", he donated £900,000 to his own charity, the Souter Charitable Trust, which assists humanitarian projects in the UK and overseas. Most of the remainder was given to the staff pension fund. In August 2012, it was announced that Souter would become chairman of Stagecoach Group on 1 May 2013, finance director Martin Griffiths replacing Souter as CEO. It was announced in December 2019 that Souter would step down from his role as chairman at the end of the year, but remain on the board as a non-executive director.

Rail operations

Shortly after Souter floated Stagecoach on the London Stock Exchange, he turned his attention to British railways. Initial experiments consisted of a Scotland to London service branded Stagecoach Rail with carriages attached to the ''

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom ...

''. During the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

, Stagecoach bid successfully to operate the

franchise from 1996 followed by the Island Line Trains later the same year. Stagecoach successfully bid to retain both when retendered in 2001 and 2006, before they passed to

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

in 2017. In 1998, Stagecoach purchased a 49% shareholding in

Virgin Rail Group Virgin Rail Group (WCT Group since 2021) is a British rail transport company that was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. United Kingdom ope ...

that operated the

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

and West Coast franchises. In 2007, Stagecoach commenced operating the

East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019. Following the Department for Transport (DfT) award of ...

franchise. From April 2015 until June 2018,

Virgin Trains East Coast Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the No ...

, in which Stagecoach held a 90% share, operated the

InterCity East Coast InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It was fo ...

franchise.

Megabus

In 2003, Souter added the bus and coach operator Megabus to the group. With its slogan "Low Cost Inter City Travel Serving Europe", it offered discounted travel across the UK and Europe. In 2012 it operated in 31 cities in the UK with a turnover in excess of £2 billion, with annual profits of over £250 million. In April 2013 Souter announced a new Megabus overnight sleeper service from Scotland to London. The sleeper coaches cost £5 million to build, and have 53 leather seats which can be converted into 42 bunk beds. Passengers receive a onesie for sleeping in during the trip. This service ended in May 2017, due to it being consistently loss-making, and the coaches are now only used on daytime services.

Souter Investments

Souter has more than 200 private investments, which are managed by his company, Souter Investments. It makes investments across a broad range of asset classes, with a primary focus on private equity and a portfolio of more than 25 direct unquoted investments. The total portfolio, excluding Stagecoach, has increased in value by 9% per annum over 12 years.

Highland Global Transport

Souter and his sister Ann Gloag formed Highland Global Transport in 2012. It owns a portfolio of transport related investments valued at more than £600M including: *

(26%) * Istanbul Deniz Otobusleri, a ferry operator on the Bosphoros and

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, Turkey (held by HGT shareholders direct) * PolskiBus, an

intercity coach service An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...

operator in Poland, sold to

Flixbus FlixBus (; styled FLiXBUS) is a German brand that offers low-cost Intercity bus service, intercity coach services in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It is owned by , which also operates FlixTrain, FlixCar, , and Greyhound Lines. F ...

in December 2017 *

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom, with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...

, a bus and coach manufacturer in UK, Asia and North America * Argent Energy, a biodiesel manufacturer *

Sunseeker Sunseeker International is a British luxury performance motor yacht brand. Originally named Poole Power Boats, the company was founded by brothers Robert and John Braithwaite in 1969. The company changed its name to Sunseeker International i ...

, a luxury motor yacht manufacturer * OnniBus (75%), an intercity coach operator in Finland purchased in May 2014, sold October 2018 *SuperBus.com, an intercity coach operator in Baltic states

InMotion Group

Highland Global Transport has purchased and established a number of subsidiaries in New Zealand. In August 2015, these were brought together under the one umbrella as the InMotion Group with 340 buses and coaches and 17 ferries. *Mana Coach Services, an urban bus operator in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

*Howick & Eastern Buses, an urban bus operator in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Fullers Group Fullers Group Limited, trading as Fullers360, is a ferry and tourism company in Auckland, New Zealand. It operates in the Hauraki Gulf and Waitematā Harbour. Fullers Group is the latest in a long line of almost continuous harbour and gulf ferr ...

(Fullers360), operator of commuter and tourist ferry services on

Auckland Harbour Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,ManaBus, an inter-city coach operator * Naked Bus, an inter-city coach operator *Reesby Buses, 40 vehicle coach operator ManaBus and Naked Bus ceased operation on 15 July 2018, with the bus fleets being sold to

Ritchies Transport Ritchies Transport is a New Zealand private bus operator, owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, KKR. It was established in 1972 and describes itself as "the largest privately owned bus and coach transport operator in New Zealand" with a fleet of ove ...

. Reesby Buses was also sold to Ritchies in February 2019. Mana Coach Services and Howick & Eastern Buses were sold to

Transdev Australasia Transdev Australasia is an operator of bus, ferry, light rail and heavy rail services in Australia and New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of French-based, international Transdev. It was formed in 2013 by grouping the operations of Veolia Transport ...

in October and November 2019 respectively. This leaves Fullers Group (Fullers360) as Souter's only subsidiary in New Zealand as of November 2019.

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

In April 2015, Souter was officially appointed vice president of the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is the world's first professional body of Chartered Accountants (CAs).{{Citation needed, date=November 2023 ICAS act as a voice of the professional business community. Although other Brit ...

, alongside newly appointed president, Jim Pettigrew. Souter, who qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1984, was the sole nominee for the vice-president role. In May 2017 the organisation appointed him as its president.

Political activity

Section 28

In 2000, the

proposed the abolition of

Section 28 Section 28 refers to a part of the Local Government Act 1988, which stated that Local government in the United Kingdom, local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with t ...

laws, which forbade

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

from "intentionally promoting

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

". Souter was a prominent leader of the

, which sought to prevent its abolition. In Scotland, where

was known as clause 2A, Souter spent £1 million on the first privately funded postal

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

across Scotland to gauge public opinion. A spokesman for Souter stated "He is not in this for personal glory. He is fighting this battle because he is a father and committed Christian." 3,970,712 ballot papers were posted out and 31.8% valid votes were returned, a turnout rate lower than any Scottish national election. 86.8% were in favour of keeping Clause 28, 13.2% in favour of repeal. Souter pointed out that the number of people who voted to keep the clause exceeded the number of votes cast for any single political party in Scotland at any election over the preceding ten years, although Scottish voters usually choose from four main parties, not two options. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. Souter's campaign group approached the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an Advocacy group, independent advocacy organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the si ...

to organise the ballot through its ballot services subsidiary. The society refused the request as it believed the poll "would not be a legitimate democratic exercise to ask people to give an opinion on the repeal of Section 28 without knowing the detail of what would replace it". Many groups hostile to Souter's stance had called for a public boycott of the poll, and accordingly claimed that as only a minority voted this was a defeat for Souter and his supporters. Mainstream politicians, including the

(which Souter has supported) largely ignored his poll and disputed whether the result was a true reflection of public opinion, with the

stating that the public had been fed a diet of "misinformation and lies" by Souter's campaign group. The Communities Minister,

Wendy Alexander Wendy Cowan Alexander, Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (born 27 June 1963) is a retired Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the ...

MSP, criticised the poll, stating "I think what is significant about today's ballot is that two out of three voters rejected, or binned or simply ignored this glorified opinion poll." Gay rights campaigner

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's Parliament of the United Kingdo ...

stated that "Brian Souter's support for Section 28 is the moral equivalent of the business-funded campaign to maintain racial segregation in the Deep South of the USA in the 1950s." Tatchell said that Souter's campaign was "hateful" and that it is clear that he was using his vast fortune to try to keep a cruel and "bigoted law" intact.

Donations to SNP and other political parties

Souter was a major financial supporter of the

(SNP). In March 2007, he donated £500,000, citing an imbalance of funding within Scottish politics. He stated that it was his intention to redress an imbalance in funding: "as long as I can remember, the case for the union has been hugely financed by cash from London, while the case for independence has lacked resources. I hope my donation will help redress this imbalance". Following the donation, SNP leader

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...

was criticised for "pandering to homophobia" by accepting the donation. Salmond thanked Souter for his support, calling him "one of the outstanding entrepreneurs of his generation". One month later, in April 2007, the SNP's commitment (made at the party's 2006 conference) to re-regulate the bus network was dropped from the 2007 manifesto, although the SNP denied any direct link. In February 2011 Souter again pledged financial support for the SNP, promising to match every pound they raised with a donation of up to £500,000. Announcing his support he said Salmond and the SNP deserved a second term in office. The SNP won a resounding victory in the election with Salmond being returned unopposed as First Minister. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

reported in August 2014 that Souter had donated £1 million to the campaign for

Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

. Since Nicola Sturgeon became SNP leader in November 2014, Souter has made no further donation, but in December 2014 he gave £3,500 to the

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

branch of the Liberal Democrats. In 2023, Souter aided Humza Yousaf’s government to organise a dinner between government and businesses.

Patrick Harvie Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and i ...

, the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights stated "what has to be really, really clear is that not just my party, but the Scottish Government, does not share the values of Brian Souter.".

Charitable work

In 1992 Souter and his wife set up the Souter Charitable Trust, which assists humanitarian projects in the UK and overseas, especially, but not exclusively, those with a Christian emphasis. Projects include the prevention of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

and supplying daily meals to school children in Africa. The Trust has donated more than £98m to 13,000 worthwhile causes. Groups funded annually by the trust include

Tearfund Tearfund is an international Christian relief and development agency based in Teddington, UK. It currently works in around 50 countries, with a primary focus on supporting those in poverty and providing disaster relief for disadvantaged communit ...

, The Message Trust,

Oasis Trust Oasis Charitable Trust, commonly known as Oasis, is a United Kingdom-based Christian registered charity. It was founded by the Reverend Steve Chalke in September of 1985. Chalke had been assistant minister at Tonbridge Baptist Church, Kent, for ...

and Jam International. In April 2019, Souter's company Stagecoach Southeast was announced as the sponsor of the annual

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

for visual artists, but the sponsorship was ended a few days later by mutual agreement after public criticism of Souter's involvement in the sponsorship.

Honours and awards

In 1997 Souter was granted an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from Strathclyde University. In 1998 he was awarded the Scottish Entrepreneur Award. In 1999 he received his second honorary degree, from

. In 2004 he was honoured with the Businessman of the Year award at the Insider Elite Awards. In 2008 he was given a Special Recognition Award for services to the bus industry. In June 2010 he was given a Special Career Service Award at the "Talent In Mobility" Awards, part of the European Mobility Exhibition held in Paris for the public transport industry. In October 2010 he was awarded the Ernst & Young UK Master Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011 he was presented with an outstanding achievement award at the 2011 Perthshire Chamber of Commerce Business Star Awards. On 18 April 2012 he was inducted into the British Travel and Hospitality Industry Hall of Fame, the first public transport entrepreneur to receive the honour.

Knighthood

Souter was

in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Cathy Jamieson Catherine Mary Jamieson (born 3 November 1956) is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She pr ...

, who suggested a link between the knighthood and the large amounts of money he has donated to the

. In a public statement, Jamieson said: "The

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

and his party must look seriously at the relationship they have developed with wealthy individuals handing them large sums of cash. The public will rightly be asking what's next on Mr Souter's shopping list?" Salmond denied any wrongdoing in the matter and referred himself for investigation after calls for a probe by Scottish MP

Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish people, Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, ''My Left Foot'' (1989), ''The Field (1990 film), The Field'' (19 ...

. An independent report, conducted by Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, cleared Salmond of any wrongdoing, asserting that "There appears to me to have been no breach of the ministerial code by Alex Salmond as First Minister and he should be wholly exonerated of any breach." Souter's knighthood was also criticised by some gay rights campaigners, who felt that the honour was insulting to the gay community and was effectively rewarding homophobia, given Souter's past campaigning. A petition to have the knighthood withdrawn received 5,000 signatures by July 2011.

Personal life

In 1998, Souter described English Northerners (who make up a considerable proportion of his customers) as "the beer-drinking, chip-eating, council house-dwelling, old Labour-voting masses." Souter lives in

, Scotland with his wife and four children. He is a member of the

Church of the Nazarene The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism during the late 19th century. The denomination has its headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas. and it ...

, and attends Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Perth.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souter, Brian 1954 births 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople Alexander Dennis Alumni of the University of Dundee Alumni of the University of Strathclyde British financial company founders British public transport executives Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Knights Bachelor Living people People educated at Perth Academy People from Perth, Scotland People in bus transport Scottish accountants Scottish billionaires Scottish chairpersons of corporations Scottish chief executives Scottish company founders Scottish investors Scottish knights Scottish members of the Church of the Nazarene Scottish National Party donors Stagecoach Group Transport company founders