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£1m Investment Delivers Top Marks for Training at NCT

Training at Nottingham City Transport (NCT) continues to score “top marks” as the 400th bus driver undertakes their NVQ; all drivers’ have completed a refresher Customer Service Skills training course and more Engineering Apprentices are recruited, as NCT invests £1m in training.

Mark Fowles, Managing Director for NCT said, “With reports of many companies making redundancies or reducing working weeks, we are very proud at NCT to be continuing to invest extensively in our staff training programmes, to ensure our Company can meet the needs and expectations of our customers”.

The PCV Driving NVQ Level 2 qualification has now been undertaken by 407 drivers, which represents over half of NCT’s driver workforce. An additional 135 drivers are expected to start the NVQ in the next 12 months, with all new drivers and many established drivers signing up to study.

Studying for the NVQ gives drivers an opportunity to further explore aspects of their work, such as contributing to health and safety in the workplace, customer care, preparing vehicles for customers and how to deal with incidents and emergencies when on duty.

The NVQ course is delivered internally by NCT and drivers have nothing but praise for the programme, awarding it “top marks” of 5 out of 5 in course evaluations. Driver comments include:

• “I have enjoyed doing the NVQ at NCT; all the staff have been friendly and helpful in all things regarding this qualification”
• “I really enjoyed the second part of my NVQ. I look forward to my third NVQ session”
• “Enjoyed the day, very interesting. The workshops get better each time”

Such is the success and high delivery standard of NCT’s NVQ Programme, the Company has been an Accredited Centre for 8 years and is now supporting other transport operators, including the Medilink hospital service, as their drivers work towards the qualification.

In addition to NVQs, all drivers have now completed a Customer Service Skills training programme and a formal qualification in Disability Awareness designed to further enhance the quality of drivers’ interaction with passengers and sensitivity to their needs when they travel with NCT. The Customer Skills course forms part of an ongoing training package NCT has introduced for driving staff, which allows the Company to meet the requirement of the Driver CPC for what is known as Periodic Training, where PCV drivers must undertake 35 hours of training every 5 years. The Driver CPC is a new qualification that all professional drivers of buses (PCV) must have if they are to drive ‘for hire or reward’ in any EU state. The Driver CPC is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of professional PCV drivers throughout their working life.

The course aims to give drivers insight into their industry through sessions on legislation, regulations and the passenger transport market, and specifically covers customer service, driving techniques to minimise wear and tear and fuel consumption (known as ‘eco-driving’), customer-focussed driving for safety and comfort, and health and safety issues such as dealing with conflict situations and emergencies.

Mike Lee, NCT’s Training and Development Manager commented, “Customer Skills training has been delivered to all drivers, and is part of the initial training for all new starters, as NCT responds to our annual customer research, which in 2007 highlighted some concerns about how our drivers were perceived in terms of friendliness and helpfulness. It is particularly pleasing that our very latest research results now show customer perceptions have increased significantly in this area”.

Training and forward planning has been a key priority for NCT’s Engineering Department, with the recruitment of further apprentices this year who will join a team of 8 existing apprentices to meet skills gaps in the industry which has been caused by few apprentice training schemes in the past.

The Apprentices are trained at both City College Coventry on block-release and on the ‘shop-floor’ at NCT bus garages, where they are involved in all aspects of their trades and work with skilled and experienced colleagues. Apprentices are currently studying for qualifications in the electrical, bus bodywork and mechanical elements of engineering, all important and necessary to maintain the high bus maintenance and safety standards NCT has become renowned for in the industry.

Apprentice Sam Price rates the programme highly, stating “I decided to take the apprenticeship as I enjoy engineering and the prospects are good. I enjoy working with the people I am with as they are always offering advice and tips. The atmosphere in the garage is great”.

Concluding, Nick Walters NCT Engineering Manager South states, “The Apprentice Training Scheme is all about succession planning so we can plug the skills gap and provide skilled craftsmen for the future at NCT”.

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