A college in Warwickshire is helping to keep the Royal Mail fleet moving nationwide with a new apprenticeship training scheme for its technicians.
Warwick Trident College, which is part of WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group), is supporting apprentices from the postal service in completing their technician qualifications for heavy goods vehicles.
The first cohort is made up of 16 apprentices who work day-to-day as technicians in depots all over the UK.
Royal Mail has provided the college with two trucks for the apprentices to use for the training and continue their development in repairing and maintaining heavy goods vehicles.
The apprentices have already completed their light vehicle qualifications before attending the college and study at the college for nine weeks over the course of the year.
During their time at the college they will be living on site at Royal Leamington Spa College, which is also part of college group WCG.
WCG is the largest apprenticeship training provider in the region, training over 2,500 apprentices each year and working with more than 1,100 employers annually.
Mark Eden, Director of Work-Based Learning at WCG, said: “We’re excited to be working in partnership with Royal Mail on this scheme and helping to keep their trucks on the road up and down the country.
“Our facilities at Warwick Trident College are excellent and it is the perfect location for these technicians to progress their skillsets with heavy goods vehicles.
“We work with businesses from a wide range of backgrounds, from SMEs to large companies such as the Royal Mail, supporting the progression and development of workforces.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Royal Mail in the future and strengthening our partnership on the apprenticeship scheme.”
Stewart Lawton, Fleet Apprenticeship Manager at Royal Mail Group, said: “We are looking forward to working closely with Warwick Trident College to build an apprenticeship scheme that is market leading and delivers the highest quality technicians.”
WCG offers a wide range of apprenticeships in a variety of industries. For more information visit www.wcg.ac.uk/apprenticeships.
PICTURE CAPTION: From left to right: Front – Michael Baillie (Inverness depot), Katie Malin (Leicester depot), Doug Parkes (WCG) and Mark Eden (WCG). Back – Stewart Lawton (Royal Mail), Sam Chandler (Gloucester depot), Marc Roberts (Exeter depot), James Nutt (WCG) and Muhammed Waterfall (North London depot).