Members of our engineering team enjoyed success at the 2025 IRTE Skills Challenge Finals, hosted today in Wolverhampton, competing against engineers the length and breadth of the UK.

The IRTE Skills Challenge took place over 3 days earlier this summer, pitting the bus and coach industry’s top technicians and apprentices against one another to test their knowledge, precision, and real-world application.

At today’s awards ceremony, Jamie McCallum, currently in his third-year, was awarded Winner – Mechanical Apprentice, while fellow third-year mature apprentice (recently qualified) Stuart Dunlop took Winner – Electrical Apprentice.

Second-year apprentice Michael McNicol also performed exceptionally, securing Runner-Up – Bodywork Apprentice.

In recognition of their collective performance, Jamie, Stuart, and Michael were jointly awarded Outstanding Apprentice Team, a remarkable achievement and a true reflection of their dedication, talent, and hard work.

Huge congratulations go to all our competitors – which included Andrew Hardy, Greg Gifford and Ali Ludick – who’ve once again done Lothian proud.

Dylan Dastey, Chief Engineer: “IRTE is recognised as the industry benchmark of skills and knowledge, and our success in this year’s finals demonstrates the importance of our continued investment in training and development across our engineering teams.

“We are thrilled with the overall performance of our team across the Skills Challenge, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jamie, Stuart and Michael on their fantastic achievements.”