During the third quarter (July-September) 2020, the company’s range of accreditations are to be offered at heavily subsidised rates to dealers for the first time.
The training will be delivered (applying social distance practices) at Bridgestone’s purpose built facility in MIRA, which features state-of-the-art equipment including a custom-built trailer rig which simulates real-life situations and facilitates a lot of the wheel security practicals. More specialised topics such as locking rims, wheel flanges and tubeless tyres and crane tyre fitting are also covered on-site.
And in a further development, Bridgestone’s flagship REACT Roadside Technician and Roadside Technician Refresher courses will also be condensed from two days into one for those technicians with a minimum of 18 months’ experience, to reduce the time away from the front line for valuable employees.
The accreditation was originally created by Bridgestone and has been adopted as industry standard. Around 6,000 technicians have qualified for the REACT Roadside Technician licence; around a third of whom qualifying through Bridgestone guidance.
By providing the wide range of qualifications, Bridgestone hopes to re-engage with - and empower - technicians and ensure its network of commercial partners provide a premium service when answering fleet calls.
Bridgestone training and development manager Paul Turner said: “We want to offer our training programmes at these rates as a support measure to our valued customers, many of whom over the last two or three months and have been adversely affected by reduced revenue as a result of lockdown restrictions.
“Spending money on training might be low on their list of priorities right now, but we know better than anyone that technicians still need to be able to operate at the highest levels possible, whatever the environment we find ourselves in. By making this offer to the industry we hope to ensure technicians continue to work to the highest levels of safety and compliance in order to keep them working safely and within industry guidelines.”
All training will be offered at reduced rates but fees may be applicable due to outside awarding bodies fees for the provision of ID cards and certificates (where applicable).