Qualified to deliver an even better service

Brent Transport Services (BTS) has provided all its 250 drivers and passenger assistants with the opportunity to train for a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 2 in Road Passenger Transport. The first successful candidates have now been awarded their NVQ certificates.

Brent Transport Services has provided all its 250 drivers and passenger assistants with the opportunity to train for an NVQ Level 2 in Road Passenger Transport.

Dave Shelley, Operations Manager and Alan Sinclair, Head of Transport at Brent Transport Services

For most local residents, Brent Transport Services means a neighbour being collected to go to a day centre or a child with special needs being transported to school. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. With its fleet of 85 minibuses and 30 delivery vans, BTS provides a wide variety of services to the community. These include school transport for 700 children with Special Educational Needs, 400 Adult Social Care clients to local day centres and 25,000 school meals delivered every week, not to mention day trips and excursions for schools and community groups and an internal courier services to approx 20 Council offices. BTS employs 100 drivers and 150 passenger assistants, both directly and through subcontractors. Vocational training for drivers

According to Alan Sinclair, Head of Transport of BTS vocational training benefits drivers and customers alike, “Professional drivers today require a wide variety of organisational and communication skills and the ability to support some of the most vulnerable members of our community. On paper they are regarded as unskilled workers but nothing could be further from the truth. That’s why we decided to give them all the opportunity to gain professional accreditation with an NVQ.”

BTS invited Richard Henson MBE, Managing Director of M2 Training Ltd, a UK leader in training for the transport sector, to assess their training requirements, put forward a training plan. Alan Sinclair needed to be sure the training would be relevant to their needs and not overlap their other training requirements such as the BTEC required for all drivers working for Transport for London (TfL) and the now mandatory Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) required by all Public Service Vehicle drivers. Alan Sinclair again, “That’s where M2 Training was so helpful. They carefully mapped out the elements of all the courses and tailored an NVQ programme that would add real value for BTS and deliver new skills to our drivers and passenger assistants. They also managed the whole training project, working with our drivers and contractors to minimise disruption to our operations.”

One size does not fit all

Richard Henson MBE of M2 Training believes that this flexibility is central to successful uptake of Train to Gain, “M2 Training was able to agree full funding with LSC once we had demonstrated that the proposed course would deliver the desired level of skills to drivers and passenger assistants. Every transport operation is different and a ‘one size fits all’ approach simply doesn’t work. That’s why M2 Training goes to great lengths to analyse each organisation’s need and covers as many of their training requirements as possible, within the guidelines provided by LSC.”

Back to school, no thanks!

Dave Shelley, Operations Manager for Brent Transport Services was responsible for encouraging his staff to sign up for the NVQ. “A few of our staff have reading difficulties and for many English is not their first language. To avoid embarrassment in front of their colleagues they would often say no thanks to free training. So we ran induction courses to explain the process and M2 Training came along and gave everyone a DVD which explains how people with language difficulties are given extra support.”

This careful preparation must have worked as in all, 250 BTS drivers and passenger assistants accepted the challenge. Operations Manger Dave Shelley was delighted with the response. “For many of our staff, this was their first ever formal qualification and they felt really proud of what they had achieved. I expect a lot of those NVQ certificates will be hanging on the wall.” The training was provided under the Government’s Train to Gain scheme and delivered by the UK leader in training for drivers, M2 Training Ltd.

Case studies

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