One of Birmingham's first female licensed taxi drivers is helping the city's mobile ambassadors fine-tune their skills in readiness for the 2012 Olympics. Ruth Watts, 54, who has been driving taxis for 25 years, has been appointed by Birmingham-based DriveSafe as a lead assessor for the new NVQ Level 2 course in transporting passengers by taxi and private hire, which is free of charge under the Government's Train to Gain scheme.
Ruth, from Tamworth, who has been working for the Birmingham-based training provider for nearly two years, is now using her experience to enhance the customer skills, disability awareness and safety knowledge of the city's hackney carriage drivers and private hire operators. She is one of a team of assessors at DriveSafe providing on-the- job assessment for the new ten-week course, which gives recognition for the essential service that black cab and minicab drivers provide as ambassadors for their region. Having already helped drivers attending Birmingham’s City College to achieve a 96% pass rate for the classroom-based VRQ (Vocationally Related Qualification), she is now helping them pursue their Skills for Life and NVQ qualifications.
Ruth took up taxi driving 25 years ago to help her family in the most practical way after her father, who was also a black cab driver, became too ill to work: “I got to love meeting and greeting different types of people and find helping children and people with special needs particularly rewarding.”
She added: “These qualifications offer drivers a career path of development and will enable them to provide customers from across the world with the highest quality service as Britain looks forward to hosting the Olympics in three years' time.”
Fay Goodman, founder of DriveSafe, said: “This is an excellent time for taxi drivers to raise their profile and secure three leading qualifications. As ambassadors for Birmingham, they need and deserve to be recognised for their skill, knowledge and ability. Far too often, we take for granted the very people who make an important difference to our lives and play a leading role in how visitors perceive our city.
“We include personal safety, body language and conflict management skills to work towards preventing any physical harm to drivers, as we also have a duty of care to give the right skills to prevent, diffuse and manage potentially dangerous situations.”
For more information on DriveSafe and taxi driver and private hire courses, please call Ladonna at DriveSafe on 0121 693 9390 or email: drivesafe@goodmedia.co.uk. Alternatively please contact Christine O’Neill on 07801 100512 or 0121 204 0400 Email: coneill@citycol.ac.uk. To contact Ruth Watts, please call 07817 420988.