A COLLEGE has scooped a multi-million pound deal to become a national training centre for drivers and mechanics who work for one of East Lancashire's major bus operators.

Accrington and Rossendale College and Stagecoach bosses were due to shake hands today on a deal which will create the nationwide training centre.

College bosses confirmed the three-year deal will be worth at least £1million each year.

It is the second boost for the college in less than a month, after plans for a £5million technology centre at the Accrington campus were announced.

Training courses will be drawn up for all Stagecoach staff, with NVQs initially designed for drivers to learn customer care techniques and engineers to improve maintenance skills. The contract will cover all Stagecoach's subsidiary companies throughout England and Wales and is believed to be one of the biggest deals ever negotiated between a college and a private firm.

Stagecoach has also agreed to offer cut-price bus fares to students after county bosses recently scrapped subsidised travel for over 16s.

College principal Mike Austin, said: "This is a very important contract. Our close working relationship with Stagecoach has given us the opportunity to provide the required training facilities.

"It's particularly important that Stagecoach will be paying for rather than the Further Education Funding Council, which makes it potentially one of the largest contracts of this type in recent history."

Stagecoach operations director David Ashworth, said: "We are committed to achieving a high level of employees with additional training.

"We want to improve our general standard of presentation to customers and anyone joining the company will be expected to undertake an NVQ."

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