New faces and new vehicles are providing a fresh lease of life for one of the Westcountry's leading training centres for budding lorry and bus drivers.

Truro-based Truronian Training have recruited two new instructors, a new NVQ assessor and a new training manager's assistant and office manager, along with investment of nearly £40,000 in two replacement lorries and a bus for training purposes.

Ken West, of St Ives, is one of the two new instructors. He has 35 years' experience as a Class 1 driver working for several long-established companies and has also been a qualified instructor for the past ten years.

Fellow recruit Rob Averre, of Bissoe, has been in the bus and coach industry for well over a quarter of a century, both as a Driving Standards Agency examiner and as an internal examiner with several companies, including Stagecoach.

Mike Williams, of Truro, has already been with Truronian for five years, and he has now taken on the additional role of NVQ assessor for the company's public service vehicle drivers. He will complement Dave Hoskin, Truronian's longest serving employee, who has over 20 years' expertise both as a driver and as an instructor with the company.

Completing the quartet of changes is Tasha Bickham, of Camborne, as assistant to the training manager- in which role she will tackle everything from customer interface to driver uniforms. Her previous positions include assistant to the managing director at Poldark Mine near Helston.

The company's training vehicle fleet has been replaced with a Volvo FM 7 rigid LGV (large goods vehicle), a Volvo FM 12 articulated LGV and a Dart low-floor PCV (passenger carrying vehicle) with automatic transmission.

"This latest investment reflects our commitment to constant improvement in our services and facilities," said managing director Geoff Rumbles. "LGV and PCV drivers are much in demand in Cornwall and there are plenty of opportunities awaiting people who want to take advantage of our specialist training."