Toyota Material Handling UK has teamed up with North Warwickshire & Hinckley College to recruit and develop new apprentices to work within the Toyota organisation.

The College is one of only two in the country to offer specialised forklift truck apprenticeships. It hosted an apprenticeship recruitment event, where candidates were invited to meet members of the training teams from Toyota and the College.

The new recruits, who will work in different locations within Toyota across the country, will study at the college in two-week blocks five times a year. While there, they will be based at the dedicated Fork Lift Truck training centre at Nuneaton's Bermuda Park where they will engage in a range of training and work towards their technical certificate.

Jackie Shelton, apprenticeship manager at the college, said: "Toyota is an industry leader in materials handling and we are absolutely thrilled to be working with them to deliver this exciting new apprenticeship programme. The successful candidates can look forward to working for a fantastic company and at the same time accessing training from an Ofsted outstanding College."

Ken Williams, training officer at Toyota Material Handling, said: "Successful apprenticeship programmes which deliver the very best training and opportunities to apprentices are built on strong working partnerships. We are working closely with the College to ensure that the apprentices get a great start in their forklift truck careers. The recruitment event gave the candidates a great opportunity to learn more about our industry and take part in some engaging and challenging tasks."

Reflecting the spirit of partnership working Toyota has already donated a number of items to the College training centre including a reach truck and a gas forklift.

Shelton added: "We are very grateful for the equipment that has been donated and for the time that members of Toyota will be giving to our own staff as they seek to continually improve and learn new skills to keep on providing outstanding training to learners."