Partner Article

Driving down unemployment rates

A training organisation on Wearside is stepping in to help those hit hardest by the recession, offering not only practical training for the unemployed, but a job at the end of it.

Sunderland’s Prima Training is giving those most in need of support the chance to achieve success of their own, delivering free training in partnership with other government funded organisations to give unemployed drivers the chance of a new career.

The VRQ (Vocationally Related Qualification) in road passenger transport offers anyone considering work in the taxi industry the essential underpinning knowledge which will familiarise them with their prospective new role and allow them to proceed directly onto the NVQ of the same name.

Participants cover seven units; equality and diversity, passenger safety, customer service, disability awareness, route planning and maps, manual handling and legislation and licensing.

Prima have added an additional extra element of their own; a complete three day first aid course as a valuable bonus to their trainees.

Successful course completion will guarantee the newly qualified drivers a job with Sunderland’s City Taxis, the largest private hire company in the south of the city.

The company is keen to maintain its already excellent reputation for professionalism with suitably trained new recruits, and having successfully worked with Prima Training in the past, they have declared an interest in the graduates of their current programme.

Provided individuals pass the other standard requirements, such as the medical and CRB checks which are included in the course itself, they will start work with City Taxis.

Not only are Prima’s trainees saved the expense of completing these checks themselves, they have the added advantage of meeting their new company in a more informal setting than the usual high pressured job interview.

City Taxi’s director, Tony Collins, visits the trainees regularly to check their progress before they come to join the company.

Doug Robinson, who will be managing this new programme for Prima, said: “Prima hopes to work closely with Jobcentre Plus in the future, and delivering this course with some of their already contracted providers is a great start. It’s also a rare chance for a self employed role in the form of taxi driving to receive some funded training- there’s not been much available for such specific job titles before now.

“Taxi driving as a vocation has traditionally been attractive because of the lack of formal qualifications required, but things are changing. Many big companies with good reputations are anxious to maintain standards by using trained drivers. It’s also important for anyone making a career change to get a taste of their new role before they transform their life completely.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .