Press releases
Bus drivers turn their hand to writing
11 September 2007
Chester based driver Dave Jones was unveiled as the winner and was presented with a brand new lap top computer from Arriva.
Next time you board your local bus, there is a chance you might be greeted by a published author!
A recent competition organised by Arriva, with the support of Knowsley Community College, challenged bus drivers to become the next JK Rowling or Nick Hornby by writing their own short story or poem.
This week, Chester based driver Dave Jones was unveiled as the winner and was presented with a brand new lap top computer from Arriva bosses. Dave’s winning entry revolved around a day in the life of a bus driver.
The two runners-up were Bootle driver Michael Hamton and Tony Thomas, who was a driver in Birkenhead but is now based at the Aintree head office. Both received £50 of book tokens.
The competition was the brainchild of Arriva revenue inspector Sheldon Barnet, through his work as a Trade Union learning representative.
Mr Barnet said: “My role is to promote skills for life to our workforce, such as literacy, numeracy and basic IT, and that is where the idea for writing short stories came from. All the entries were of a very high standard and we are grateful to Knowsley Community College for their support in helping to judge them.”
Vicky Deakin, Director of Employer Engagement at Knowsley Community College, added: “As a Grade 1 Skills for Life College, we welcomed the opportunity to assist Arriva in judging the entries and it has been an extremely interesting and valuable exercise. Hopefully it will encourage more writing and communication in the workplace.”
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