DESPITE losing its premises, stock and membership documents in a neighbouring firework factory fire in October 2014, River Canal Rescue (RCR) continues to go from strength to strength, having recently appointed four additional engineers and three office-based staff.
The expansion of RCR's engineering team, from 14 to 18 within a year, and office support, up from 11 to 14, has been prompted by an increase in demand for its services, fuelled by more frequent severe weather-related incidents. RCR, on average, attends over 4'000 breakdown call-outs per year.
Four engineers
Joining its UK-wide breakdown and assistance support team is; Paul Greaves, who will cover the Manchester area, John Wood, London region, and Glenn Little, Essex. Engineering apprentice, Jake Mullen, will work for Canal Contracting (a subsidiary providing access to marine engineering service providers and insurance specialists).
Prior to joining RCR, Paul was a senior engineer with a plant hire company in Manchester/Stockport; for John this is his dream job, having worked on boats from a very young age, latterly for a community project maintaining boats in Rutland. Glenn worked for a Plant and Marine firm in Harlow and has spent a number of years as a RCR contractor and apprentice Jake, previously worked in construction.
Apprentices
RCR has been employing apprentices on four year schemes since 2002, years before they regained popularity in 2008. Since then the firm has taken on 25 apprentices, 11 of which are still working within the business, some now in higher management positions.
Alongside Jake and Jason, apprentice Shane Morris is starting a scheme with RCR-owned diesel injection specialist, Key Diesels. Office-based Abbie Turner and Sarah Rowley are coming into the third and fourth years of their schemes, with Managing Director Stephanie Horton explaining:
"Out of our staff tally of 32, over a third are apprentices who have qualified and worked their way through the business. I'm proud we can help people develop and be among the best in this industry and I remain committed to including apprentices within our team expansion."
Floods
Commenting on the increase in demand for its services, Stephanie continues:
"There was a time when our business would experience peaks and troughs and while it's true to say April to September is our busiest season, the recent floods illustrate these peaks are beginning to occur with increasing frequency and when we least expect them. Our ethos is to get boaters moving again with the minimum of disruption and cost and to keep the navigation clear and as we approach the summer season, these latest additions ensure we will continue to do so, 24/7."
To find out more about River Canal Recue visit www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk