Mayor inspires rail engineering students as he shares his experiences of working on London transport

A special visit to view lessons in action was made by the Mayor of Loughton, Councillor Mick Stubbings to New City College Epping Forest campus.

The Mayor was given a tour of the rail engineering classroom and tracks at the college where he was able to view the facilities, meet the students and talk to them about his long career in the industry.

The visit was hosted by the college’s Deputy Principal Sue Clark and Deputy Group Curriculum Director of Employability and Partnerships, Shuja Ullah.

Shuja said: “The Mayor was very interested in what the students were learning, both in the theory and practical parts of the course. He gained a good understanding of the pathway open to students to get into work in the rail industry once they have completed the course.

“The students welcomed his input as he took time out to speak to them and shared his extensive experience of working in the public transport sector, which they found supportive in meeting their goals and aspirations.”

Mayor Councillor Stubbings said he found the students were engaged in their learning and were keen to ask questions. He added: “It was interesting to observe the students carrying out practical work on the tracks at the college and to hear how keen they were to have the chance of a career on the London Underground.

“I was able to give them an insight into my experiences of working on London transport, how I started and how I had progressed. It was good to tell them about the opportunities that lay ahead for them and what they would need to do to be successful.”

The Mayor said he started off his career as a Bus Fitter where he would travel around to the various transport garages and resolve problems that the mechanics were unable to fix. He then progressed to manage the garages, ensuring all the buses were fit for service and the necessary parts were in stock.

He recalled: “Then l decided that l would like to work on the trains, rather than the buses, so I applied and was successful. But I had to start at the bottom again, becoming a Train Maintainer (TM) until I gained the qualifications from college to become an Advanced Train Maintainer (ATM). This gave me the platform to progress even further, which l did.”

Councillor Stubbings moved on to work as the Service Delivery Manager and finally the Health & Safety/Environmental Officer for TfL before retiring.