Will an insider succeed Lockhead in the FirstGroup driving seat?

FirstGroup alumni are scattered across the transport industry. Dean Finch is chief executive of National Express; Peter Handy is commissioner at Transport for London; Andrew Haines is chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority; and Elaine Holt is chairman of East Coast while Karen Boswell is managing director of the state-owned rail company. Given that breeding record, it's strange that FirstGroup can't find its next chief executive within its own ranks. Tim O'Toole, lately of TfL and highly regarded, is the new deputy chief executive. As such, he will be assumed to be the successor to Sir Moir Lockhead, who is widely thought to be close to retirement some 22 years after leading the buy-out of Grampian Regional Transport. O'Toole can perhaps be considered a semi-insider since he has been a non-executive director for the past year. Even now, though, he doesn't get the title of chief executive-designate. Maybe that has been Lockhead's formula over the years – keep 'em guessing.