James leads way as Arriva’s graduate training programme expands

James Higlett is 22, a graduate and one of European transportservices organisation Arriva's rising stars on its GraduateDevelopment programme. And he is soon to be joined by candidatesfrom Denmark, Germany and Sweden as the Group's training programmeopens up to graduates from outside the UK.

Recruited last autumn, James joined Arriva's UK Regional Busengineering management scheme, which is designed to help traineeslearn all about the business and become one of the Europeantransport group's future leaders.

Based largely at the Maidstone depot of Arriva SouthernCounties, James has spent time with the engineering team learningall the procedures needed to ensure that Arriva's buses meet theexacting standards set by Government inspection team VOSA.

James explains:

At university, mechanical engineering was largelytheoretical, there wasn't much opportunity to work on practicalengineering projects. I knew that I wanted to specialise in vehicleengineering, preferably in a commercial environment so the Arrivatraining programme was ideal.

James has spent time working in engineering pits, had a go atpaint spraying, and even spent time in the commercial divisionlearning about network planning and bus service scheduling. And inanother challenge, James is currently working towards getting hisPSV licence and will then spend some time out driving on a normalbus route experiencing how the job is for drivers every day.

James added:

If I am to succeed and become a good manager for thebusiness it is important that I have actual experience of allelements of it. Bus driving is a skilled and professional job and Ithink that it is important that drivers know I understand thechallenges they face.

So what's next? James will soon be moving on to the next part ofhis training, with stints in finance and management teams.

And throughout his programme James has the support of Arriva'sdirector, human resources, Alison O'Connor, and his mentor,director of legal and commercial services, Chris Applegarth.

Alison O'Connor added:

The Graduate Training programme is designed to givegraduates exposure to significant responsibility early in theircareers. They gain the opportunity to move into an industry sectorwhere expectations are changing and developments are high profile.These graduates are our future business leaders for an organisationthat is always looking ahead.

Notes to editors

• Arriva is one of the largest private sector providers ofpassenger transport in mainland Europe. Employing more than 30,000people and providing more than one billion passenger journeys everyyear.
• Arriva provides transport services including buses, trains,commuter coaches and water buses in eight European countries:Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Swedenand the UK.
• Arriva is the largest private bus operator in Italy, Denmarkand the Netherlands and is London's largest operator. Arriva wasthe first private company to be awarded rail contracts inDenmark.
• In the last five years, the turnover of Arriva's mainlandEuropean operations has increased by more than 250 per cent to£514.8 million (Euro €746 million).
• Arriva was the first UK transport company to become a signatoryof the European Road Safety Charter:http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/roadsafety/charter.htm.