Rail firm seeks apprentices to get on board with new career

Thameslink, in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, is looking for new recruits living along the London to Bedford rail route to join their award-winning Get Into Railways programme.

Based at a training centre in Luton, the twelve 18-to-25-year-olds will receive a free four-week, two-day programme which is split into learning and a two-week work placement at a station.

They will also receive six months’ additional support direct from the Prince’s Trust. In many cases it can lead to offer of a full-time position.

Thameslink group station manager Tony O’Grady, who has been spearheading the campaign, said: “I do this because it really does change people’s lives.

“Over three years we’ve given 84 candidates their first taste of life on the railway, 53 of them staying on to pursue a career with us.”

He added: “Our programme helps young people to improve skills such as team work, communication which develops their confidence to cope with the demands of the working world. Three in four young people helped by The Prince’s Trust move into work, training or education.”

Earlier this year, Luton Airport Parkway ticket inspector Mike Tyler, who was the first of Thameslink’s Prince’s Trust recruits to be offered a full-time job, won a national award from the Prince of Wales for his achievement.

Mike, now 22, said: “Before, I was living on the streets and not doing anything with my life. The Prince’s Trust changed all that and now I’m in a job I love and couldn’t be happier.”

The next batch of recruits will be selected on September 29. Email Prince’s Trust co-ordinator Anna Crump at [email protected].