AN EXPRESS delivery firm has won a national award for its apprenticeship scheme.

City Link, which operates a depot in Bicester, has taken on 180 young people in the past two years.

Its training schemes for 18- to 25-year-olds were applauded at the Institute of Couriers’ National Courier Awards in London last week.

Chief executive Dave Smith was presented with the award by Mark Griffiths the Worshipful Company of Carmen, a trades guild for the transport business and Prof Rod Dubrow-Marshall of Derby University, which offers a degree in transport and logistics.

New City Link recruits are enrolled on a course which covers warehousing and distribution, or contact centre operations, including 12 months on-the-job training.

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The firm has written its own course material and runs training sessions in-house but the content is based on national guidelines for the courier industry.

Mr Smith said a high number of the business’s apprentices reach NVQ level three in leadership and management and are later promoted to supervisory or management roles.

He said: “Every day we work hard to offer the highest levels of service to customers and are immensely proud that our workforce shares that ethos.

“It is this determination that enables us to go from strength to strength and stand out from the competition.”

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