News / Refugee
Training programme gives refugees opportunity to become bus drivers
A new scheme will provide Bristol with much-needed bus drivers, while offering refugees the opportunity they need to build their lives in the city.
First West of England has partnered with not-for-profit organisation ACH to launch the training programme, which will include employment and customer service skills masterclasses, before recruits get behind the wheel at First’s Lawrence Hill depot.
The company has guaranteed interviews for all 12 participants and successful candidates will then go on to complete the formal six-week training to become bus drivers in the region, operating both single and double decker buses across all service routes.
is needed now More than ever
It hasn’t been the best year for First, which has come under fire for delays and cancellations. With issues recruiting drivers at least partly to blame for the disruption, this new scheme could go at least some way to helping alleviate the city’s public transport woes.
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Read more: Mass rally over state of Bristol’s bus services
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It could also make a huge to people who have been forced to leave their homes and face rebuilding their lives from scratch in Bristol.
First boss James Freeman
“Through our partnership with ACH, we hope to provide refugees and vulnerable members of the community with a life-changing opportunity to develop real workplace skills and build a new life in the city,” said James Freeman, managing director of First West of England.
“Our driver training programme offers excellent career prospects and, by working with ACH, we can now open up these opportunities to harder to reach communities in the city. ACH do fantastic work in helping refugees integrate into the region and we are delighted to be able to support them as we roll out the first course of our new training partnership.”
ACH’s employment manager Julia Palmer added: “Working in partnership with employers is paramount for helping skilled individuals get started in not just a job, but a career.
“The prospect of moving on to work as a First bus driver has created a real buzz amongst the group.”
ACH is already working with Starbucks to provide vocational training for refugees and has helped more than 1,500 people gain new skills across Bristol and the West Midlands in the last academic year.
The first cohort of 12 drivers have now completed the two-week course, funded by First, and are now going through the interview process.
Main photo: The first group to take part in the training programme (pictured at Barton Hill Settlement)
Read more: Bristol’s pioneering asylum seeker employment project
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