Chairman Succession

Press Release

25th October 2012

The Go-Ahead Group plc

("Go-Ahead" or the "Company")

Company Chairman

The Board of Go-Ahead announces that Sir Patrick Brown will step down as Company Chairman and retire from the Board on 24 April 2013. In accordance with the Board's succession plan, Andrew Allner, currently Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, will succeed Sir Patrick Brown as Company Chairman from 25 April 2013.

Sir Patrick Brown joined the Board in 1999 and was appointed as Company Chairman in October 2002. Commenting on his decision to retire, Sir Patrick said:

"Since I joined the Board in 1999, the Group has grown significantly and has weathered very well the economic storms of recent years. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Go-Ahead and have enjoyed working with four Chief Executives and the small, but immensely able, Board of Directors who have helped steer the Company over the years. The Group is now in a strong position to move forward and the time is ripe for me to step down. Andrew has both significant knowledge and understanding of the Group, gained not least through his four years as Non-Executive Director, and has considerable Board experience. I am confident that he will do an outstanding job as we continue to progress our strategy."

Andrew Allner joined the Board as Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee in October 2008. He was appointed Senior Independent Director in October 2011. Andrew Allner said:

"I would like to thank Sir Patrick Brown for his long-standing stewardship of the Group. During his tenure, he has successfully steered the Group through some challenging times and he leaves the Group with a clear strategy, a strong Executive Team and significant opportunity for the future. I feel very privileged to be taking over from Sir Patrick and I look forward to working with the Board and Executive Team to create further growth in shareholder value whilst at the same time continuing to improve the already high standard of our bus and rail operations."

On his accession to Company Chairman in April 2013, Andrew Allner will step down as Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee. The Board has commenced a search for a new independent Non-Executive Director with recent and relevant financial experience to succeed Andrew Allner as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Notes to Editors

Andrew Allner

Andrew Allner joined the Board of Go-Ahead in October 2008. He chairs the Audit Committee and sits on the Remuneration Committee and the Nomination Committee. He was appointed Senior Independent Director in October 2011. He was formerly a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He was Group Finance Director of RHM plc between 2004 and 2007 and has other Executive and Non-Executive PLC board experience. Andrew currently holds a number of external appointments including Non-Executive Chairman at Marshalls plc, Non-Executive Director at CSR plc, Non-Executive Director at Northgate plc, Senior Independent Director at AZ Electronics Materials SA and Non-Executive Chairman of Fox Marble Holdings plc.

GO-AHEAD

Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 23,000 people across the country, over one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been reaccredited with 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 around 4,600 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.7 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with around 24 per cent market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in Oxford, East Anglia, the South East, Southern and North East England. We also have a yellow school bus joint venture in North America.

RAIL

The rail operation, Govia, is 65 per cent owned by Go-Ahead and 35 per cent by Keolis. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30 per cent of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland. Southeastern operates the first and only UK domestic high speed rail service, between Kent and London.