Fresh National Express effort sustains Transaid’s Tanzania work

National Express Bus has sent two more Driver Training Instructors to Africa with Transaid, further cementing the company’s relationship with the industry charity, which saves lives through transportation-related projects across the developing world.

The trip was part of National Express’s continued commitment to support Transaid this year, with trainers Phil Reynolds and Kevin Roberts spending two weeks training six driving instructors at Tanzania’s National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Dar es Salaam.

Reynolds says: “I’ve been with National Express for 26 years, and this was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have faced with the company. I was proud to front our engagement with Transaid in Tanzania and would recommend the experience to anyone else in the industry who might be considering it.”

Gary Forster, Chief Executive of Transaid, says: “Road crashes are now the biggest killer of economically productive adults around the world, according to the World Health Organisation. But Transaid is only as strong as its partners in tackling this problem, and National Express has been a stalwart partner in our life-saving efforts in Tanzania.”

During regular working hours at National Express, Reynolds and Roberts deliver training interventions that cover a wide spectrum of content from training new people to attain the UK PCV licence, to coaching existing drivers with many years service in the most up to date practises of safe driving techniques, customer service and company values.

The men had to cope with a language barrier to deliver instructor training to two of the six instructors they were training. They focused on driving ability, instructional techniques, and daily vehicle check training. They placed an emphasis on on-the-road training rather than classroom-based theory, and prepared reports for Transaid and the NIT on their experience. Reynolds and Roberts also updated a blog of their experiences in Tanzania at www.nationalexpresstanzania.squarespace.com

Earlier this year, National Express driver trainers Raj Bhutta and Arthur Baddams ran a similar training input at the NIT.