National Express helped give Team England athletes a golden reception to honour their smash hit performance at this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

The global transport company brought its unique gold liveried coach to a special Commonwealth Games England (CGE) homecoming event at the Guildhall in London yesterday (25 September) where 60 athletes celebrated the team’s stellar medal haul.

Team England topped the medal table for the first time since 1986 with 58 gold, 59 silver, 57 bronze medals - 174 in total.

The event was held to congratulate and honour Team England athletes and included speeches from the Lord Mayor of London and CGE Chairman Sir Andrew Foster MBE.

At the event, Sir Andrew commended the athletes for their amazing performances and thanked National Express for its support in the run up to and throughout the games in Glasgow during the summer.

Team England's highest table tennis medallist of all time Andrew Baggaley also thanked National Express for their support since the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.

The winner of six Commonwealth Games medals including two golds, was given a free four year coach pass for travel on the national coach network to support him in his preparations for Glasgow.

National Express also agreed to renew Andrew’s pass for a further four years this summer.

Andrew said his coach pass is invaluable as he relies on it to travel to the airport when training and competing abroad for both club and country.

He said: “I was delighted with my silver medal in Glasgow which was the fruit of careful preparation, training and support from my team. The National Express coach pass has been a great help because travel costs are such a big part of my budget – so I’d like to say a big thank you to them.”

National Express supported the English athletes by offering all medal winners from the previous games in Delhi free travel until the Games.

In the run up to the Glasgow games, National Express extended its free travel offer to the friends and families of athletes during the games, so they could see their loved ones compete.