Purchase of Own Securities

12 December 2002

                                FirstGroup plc                                 

              Buyback of 23,043 ordinary shares for cancellation               

FirstGroup plc announces that on 12 December 2002 it purchased for cancellation
23,043 ordinary shares of 5p each at an average price of 225.783p per share.

Since FirstGroup plc started to buyback its ordinary shares on 7 June 2002 it
has repurchased for cancellation a total of 3,443,612 ordinary shares. There
are now 417,387,335 ordinary shares in issue.