Director Shareholding

FirstGroup PLC
6 June 2001


DEALINGS BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE FIRSTGROUP PLC EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP PLAN
('ESOP')

FirstGroup plc has today received notice that on 6 June 2001 the Trustees of
the ESOP acquired 789,702 ordinary shares of 5 pence in FirstGroup plc at a
price of 354.9483 pence per share.

This represents the final part of the allocation of profits made by FirstGroup
plc to the ESOP in respect of the year ended 31 March 2001. The ESOP has
acquired a total of 1,168,183 shares.

Under the ESOP, unappropriated FirstGroup shares are held in trust for the
executive directors and/or employees of FirstGroup or its subsidiaries.
Consequently, the executive directors of FirstGroup plc are regarded as having
a potential interest in these unappropriated shares held by the ESOP.

The unappropriated shares held by the Trustees of the ESOP will be
appropriated to participating employees on an equal basis in the near future.

With the exception of the employee non-executive director, George Law, all
other eligible directors have declined to participate in the forthcoming
appropriation.



6 June 2001