MEET a young apprentice engineer who is helping keep zero-emission buses running in York.

Ryan Megginson, 22, was taken on by First York after the bus operator brought its engineering team in-house and is now getting ready to begin a regular 250-mile round trip as part of his training.

Ryan began training in late 2019 but the pandemic has prevented him from attending college for the past year and he has had to rely on remote learning.

He’s expecting that from next week he will be able to travel to Manchester College from his home in Scarborough to continue the classroom studies as part of his second year of the apprenticeship.

Ryan said: “I’ll be glad to finally get face-to-face with the tutors.

“Learning online has been difficult at times because you can’t get the same interaction. Being together will make the difference; it’s like chatting with the technicians at work, you learn so much.”

Ryan is training in mechanical and electrical engineering.

He plans to specialise as a Level 3 electrical engineer, which he sees as a timely career choice now that First York is operating the biggest all-electric Park & Ride bus fleet in the country and plans to stop buying diesel buses just as he finishes his apprenticeship at the end of 2022.

He said: “I’m look forward to learning about working on high-voltage components and systems.

“This is essential knowledge for when batteries must be de-connected for maintenance.”

First York is focused on training engineers for its next generation zero-emission buses in addition to a fleet of single decker electric buses, which were introduced to the Park & Ride in 2014.

The company is planning to recruit a further three apprentices during the summer to expand its existing team of 12 engineers.