19/08/2008
- Bus operator in line for hat-trick of GoSkills transport honours
- Success follows significant investment in training programme
Three Stagecoach employees have been shortlisted for a major honour at the 2008 GoSkills Passenger Transport Apprenticeship Awards.
Apprentices James Belfield (21), from Manchester, Kendal-based Jamie Bateson (21) and Graham Evans (22), who works in Swindon, are all in the running for an award.
They have been shortlisted in the Transport Engineering and Maintenance Apprenticeship category, one five Go for Excellence awards.
Stagecoach is now in the running for a hat-trick of awards after winning the same category for the past two years. In 2006 and 2007, two of the three shortlisted apprentices have been from the company.
The awards, – covering the rail, aviation, and coach and bus industries – are organised by GoSkills, the Sector Skills Council for Passenger Transport.
Les Warneford, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: “We make a significant investment in our people every year and our apprenticeship programme is recognised as one of the best in the business.
“I would like to congratulate James, Jamie and Graham on being shortlisted for this award. Not only does it reflect the high standard of training and development we provide for our employees, it is a credit to their personal commitment to the highest standards of engineering and maintenance.”
Stagecoach’s Apprenticeship Programme is one of the most comprehensive and challenging in the bus industry. It is specifically designed to produce qualified multi-skilled technicians to work on increasingly more technologically advanced vehicles.
Apprentices also have the opportunity to gain the experience required to become the engineering managers and directors of the future.
The programme, which is run in conjunction with Bristol-based S&B Training Ltd, was completely redesigned five years ago using the Transport Engineering Maintenance National Vocational Qualification and Technical Certificate run by the Institute of the Motor Industry.
Stagecoach also runs an Apprentice Plus Programme for those in their 4th Year. It includes training courses with manufacturers of bus parts as well as those actually building the buses.
An intensive one-week workshop also covers interpersonal skills, planning, coaching, mentoring and communications. This offers progression to the HNC/HND Foundation degree in Vehicle Operations Management.
Stagecoach’s award-winning programme has been extremely successful and for the last two years it has produced the “Apprentice of the Year” for the transport industry, as well as two runners-up.
More than 150 apprentices are currently in training with Stagecoach across its UK Bus operations, which stretch from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to south-west England.
The 2008 GoSkills Passenger Transport Apprenticeship Awards ceremony will be held at Lord’s cricket ground in London on 13 November.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Steve Stewart, Director of Corporate Communications
Stagecoach Group
Tel: 01738 442111 or mobile 07764 774680
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport company with bus and rail operations in the UK and North America. The Group employs around 30,000 people and runs around 12,000 buses and trains.
- Connecting communities in more than 100 towns and cities, Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators. The company runs around 7,000 vehicles from Devon in south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, carrying around 2 million passengers every day.
- Stagecoach services cover many of the UK’s major cities, including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Hull, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as key shire towns and rural areas. For further information, go to www.stagecoachbus.com.
