Derby bus engineer wins national skills award

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 14 September 2023

trentbarton’s Derby depot Workshop Supervisor Harry Burns has been named the best in his field at a national bus industry skills challenge.

Harry, 28, was named the nation’s best bus inspection technician at the annual Institute of Road Transport Engineers (IRTE) Skills challenge. The award was sponsored by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

The event drew 60 entries from some of the UK’s biggest bus operators – including Arriva, First Bus and Go-Ahead – and is fiercely contested under controlled conditions.

Harry's training and experience shone through as he used his judgment to check for and identify defects on buses.

John Bickerton, Group Engineering Director, said:

“The hardest part of a vehicle inspection is knowing what to record and what to accept, and I'm really pleased Harry has shown he's top of the tree.

“We're always recruiting for the best talent and he'll share his knowledge with the rest of the team. We'll be back to the Skills Challenge again next year.”

Harry, from Derby, is no stranger to the IRTE Skills Challenge. In 2018 he was one the three-strong trentbarton crew which won the Outstanding Team title. And in 2021 he was runner up in the Mechanical Skilled Engineer Award.

Harry joined trentbarton as an apprentice in 2011 and said:

“It was nice to win at the Skills Challenge. After winning a group award some years back and coming runner up in a solo category, it’s nice to have achieved a personal award.

“The challenges test various aspects of our job. It’s nice to compete against operators all over the country and see where trentbarton stands against all of them.

“Winning is an added bonus for me personally, but I don’t believe I could have achieved it without the peers around me that have helped me along in my career and shared their knowledge with me.”

trentbarton has this year upped its investment in the next generation of apprentices, said John.

“We are proud to have taken on more than double the number of apprentices this year and also have a strong training package for skilled and upskilling technicians at every site.”

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