TONY Thompson, aged 18 from Stockton, is currently working through a Modern Apprenticeship with Hickson Motors, also of Stockton. There is nothing particularly remarkable in that fact as hundreds of young people in Stockton will be working through similar training courses at the present time.

What is more remarkable is the route that Tony took and the part played by his manager at Hickson Motors, Paula Howsden.

Some time ago, Paula found herself in a similar position to Tony. She had left school and wanted to train to be a motor mechanic.

"I was taken on by MillTech, the training arm of Mill Garages, on the then YT programme," said Paula.

"While on the training course I was taken on by Hickson Motors on a placement. I think I was something of a novelty for Hickson because at that time there were not many female motor mechanics in training.

"Anyway, Hickson took me on not expecting to last much more than a week. But that was 14 years ago and I am still here.

"Having had this experience myself, I thought that Tony would benefit from the more modern and more robust kind of training that Modern Apprenticeships provide and so we signed him up to REMIT to take him through the training and the qualifications," she said.

REMIT, Retail Motor Industry Training, operates the Modern Apprenticeship programme on behalf on Tees Valley Training and Enterprise Council and it was to its programme that Tony signed up to. He is already well on the way to completing NVQ Level 2 in motor mechanics.

"I joined Hickson Motors in December 1998 through REMIT," said Tony.

"Combining work and training has been quite straightforward and I have found it fairly easy to balance the two. The way the training is structured is also good because you can set goals and work towards achieving them. My current goal is to complete my Level 2 NVQ and then to move on to Level 3. After that, my probable long-term goal will be to become an accredited MOT tester. That will take at least two years after successfully completing my NVQ Level 3 before I can sit the tester's test because there is more, quite rigorous, training to go through to get up to the standard required," he said.

This long-term ambition of Tony's will not just benefit himself, there should be a direct benefit also for Hickson Motors. The company is a repair shop and an MOT testing centre and so having Tony as a fully-fledged MOT tester will be a boost for the team already in place at Hicksons.

"Schemes like Modern Apprenticeships have a dual benefit in my mind," said Paula.

"On the one hand the trainee, like Tony, gets a rounded training programme which is backed up by practical experience in a real job that pays real wages.

"The company which employs the trainee also benefits because they get a well trained workforce which also has experience at the same time. The more traditional apprentice training which was so important years ago, tended to keep people out of real work situation for long periods as they concentrated on classroom work. Here we have the best of both worlds coupled with an infrastructure that really helps both sides of the contract.

"I would have no hesitation in recommending Modern Apprenticeships or putting other people on to such training courses as I think the benefits are tremendous," she said.

To find out more about Modern Apprenticeships or Job Training, please telephone Emma Finn at Tees Valley TEC on Freephone (0800) 018 57 56.