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The Go-Ahead Group plc (Go-Ahead) has today appointed Elliot Laurie as its first Group Legal Manager, based at its head offices in London.

Elliot joined Go-Ahead on a temporary contract in August 2009 and has worked on some key Group acquisitions and disposals over the past few months.

Commenting on Elliot's appointment, Keith Ludeman, Group Chief Executive said "I am delighted to appoint Elliot as Go-Ahead's first Group Legal Manager. Elliot has already added significant value to the Group. His responsibilities will include advising on Group transaction based work and for co-ordinating and managing Go-Ahead's use of, and significant spend on, legal services across the Group."

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Notes to Editors

Elliot Laurie was a Group Solicitor for the Hanson Group, based at their global head office in London between 2002 and 2008. Prior to working at Hanson, Elliot worked at various international law firms as well as being a lecturer at The College of Law, London, between 1997 and 1999. His areas of expertise include domestic and international acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, group reorganisations as well as other commercial arrangements.

Go-Ahead

Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 27,000 people across the country, almost one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.

Bus

Go-Ahead is one of the UK's largest bus operators. With a fleet of over 3,500 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.6 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with around 21% market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in the north east, Oxford, the south east and southern England. We recently expanded our UK bus operations with the acquisition of Plymouth CityBus.

Rail

The rail operation, Govia, is 65% owned by Go-Ahead and 35% by Keolis. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland. On 13 December 2009, Southeastern launched the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing current journey times.

Aviation Services

The Group's aviation services division is one of the UK's largest independent providers of cargo services (primarily Plane Handling), ground handling (primarily aviance UK) and car parking (Meteor). The division operates from 14 airports and services major airline operators such as British Airways (BA), Virgin and bmi. Go-Ahead recently announced that it had exchanged contracts to sell the majority of its aviation ground handling and cargo operations. Completion is expected at the end of January 2010.