STUDENTS are benefitting from a partnership between Lakes College and Cumbria Constabulary, in which seized vehicles donated for use in practical training.
Cumbria's Police Fire and Crime Commissioner and Roads Policing Inspector Jack Stabler visited Lakes College West Cumbria on Friday April 24 to see the benefits of the scheme first hand.
Visiting the Workington college's mock garage, they saw Level 2 motor vehicle engineering students working on just some of the 900 vehicles seized from criminals by police last year.
David Allen, Police Fire and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria said: "We've done it at Carlisle College, here at Lakes College in Lillyhall, another six vehicles have gone here.
"We're learning as we're going along," Mr Allen said, "Carlisle, we gave them six vehicles, they weren't perhaps the vehicles they would have chosen themselves, so we said, 'next time, you come and choose, come and choose which ones suit you and your students.'
He said: "That's how we've done it here at Lillyhall, they've chosen the vehicles they want, they're really happy with them and when they get to the point that these are exhausted, they'll chose another six."
"It's a really simple idea, we seize lots of vehicles, it costs us money to store them but to transport them here is relatively cheap, it saves the college money because they're not having to buy vehicles for the students; it saves us money because we're not having to store them and it gives the students pretty modern vehicles in decent condition to work on."
Students Liam Bennion and Josh Finley told the News & Star that donated vehicles have made a significant difference to their studies.
Liam said: "The vehicles from scrap yards, they're always in a poor condition but these are a lot better."
Being able to choose from the vehicles seized by police means that there is more variety in the vehicles students get to work on.
Liam said: "When you're working on the same cars it can get a bit boring."
Josh said: "Now we've got vans so it's a better variety, better vehicles, bigger vehicles."
He said that this gives students the full experience as "you don't know what you're going to get in a workplace."
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Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Lakes College, Mark Fell said: "We want to send our students out into the workplace and into the next steps of their career with those real life skills."
He said that the donation of vehicles from Cumbria Constabulary benefits the college in that aim, which ultimately benefits the county's employers.
"They're getting really highly skilled young people" while the students, "they're getting that exposure to real life experience."
Lakes College and Cumbria's emergency services also took the opportunity to showcase their work to students.
North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) crew used a dummy and training kit to demonstrate CPR while Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) utilised virtual reality glasses to stress the importance of road safety, as well as the dangers of cold water shock.
