Bridgestone UK Awards “Outstanding” Tech Training Manager

Following his second placement at Bridgestone’s global awards in the ‘Safety and Disaster Prevention’ category, Phil Thirsk, technical training manager at the manufacturer’s UK division was recognised for his contribution to Bridgestone UK’s training programme, given one of the UK division’s ‘Outstanding Achievement Awards’ at the firm’s recent annual conference. Thirsk entered Bridgestone UK’s ‘Roadside Tyre Technician Training Course’, which he has helped to develop and deliver to more than 400 technicians, for the global awards.

Thirsk received his award from managing director for Bridgestone UK, John McNaught, at the firm’s company conference at Hellidon Lakes. He was one of five colleagues that received an Outstanding Achievement Award for their work during the past 12 months. 

Thirsk comments: “I am hugely proud of this award. I had no idea I was going to receive it, so it came as a fantastic surprise. Although we did not win in the global awards, it is great that Bridgestone UK recognised that to reach the stage we did, was a huge achievement. We are incredibly proud of the training courses we run, in particular the ‘Roadside Tyre Technician Training Course’. Following on from this success, later this year we are hoping to enter the same course into the National Training Awards 2010, which is run by UK Skills on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.”

Bridgestone UK’s ‘Roadside Tyre Technician Training Course’ aims to raise the standard and skills set for tyre technicians working on the roadside. The tyre manufacturer has worked with industry bodies to develop the course which leads the way for this type of training within the UK tyre industry.