A Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, he was formerly also a County Councillor in Oxfordshire from 1993 until his resignation in January 2008.

The son of Leonard and Ivy Bradshaw, he was educated at Slough Grammar School and the University of Reading.

After National Service from 1957 to 1959, he worked for British Rail from 1959 to 1985, starting as a management trainee in the Western Region and rising to the post of Director Policy Unit in 1980, and General Manager of British Rail Western Region 1983.

After leaving British Rail, he was Professor of Transport Management at the University of Salford from 1986 to 1992, a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and Chairman of Ulsterbus and Citybus Ltd in Belfast from 1987 to 1993.

He was created a Life peer as Baron Bradshaw, of Wallingford in the County of Oxfordshire on 22 July 1999.