David Sidebottom, Passenger Director of Passenger Focus - the official passenger watchdog in Great Britain, covering rail and bus coach and tram passengers – will be the main speaker at the next TravelWatch Public Meeting to be held at the Villa Marina on Saturday morning 12th November 2011. The mission of Passenger Focus is to get the best deal for passengers. With a strong emphasis on evidence-based campaigning and research, they ensure that they know what is happening on the ground and use that knowledge to influence decisions on behalf of passengers working with the industry, passenger groups and national and local government to secure journey improvements. David has spent over 17 years representing the needs and interests of passengers and energy consumers in England where he was North West Regional Director of energywatch, the gas and electricity consumer council, before joining Passenger Focus in January 2006. We look forward to drawing on David's experience of identifying key issues for passengers and establishing operator performance measurement standards which will be very helpful in benchmarking the targets we seek to achieve for services to, from and on the Island. The second speaker at our meeting will be Aoife Donohue, Media and Communications manager for Aer Arann who provide services between the Island and Dublin and London City. Aer Arann also operate short haul services on behalf of Aer Lingus and have recently undergone a restructuring with investment from Stobart Group, owners of Southend Airport. Aoife will be the first Aer Arann representative to attend one of our public meetings. All are very welcome at this Autumn Public Meeting. Admission is free and doors will be open at 09.30 for a 10.00 start. The meeting will finish by 1.00 pm and coffee is served during the morning (for which donations are invited). We encourage questions and discussion on passenger travel matters both on and to/from the Island as well as informal contact with speakers. ENDS