A training firm has set on 13 school leavers or unemployed as budding scaffolders. Darton-based Astra Access Safety Training will train the 16 to 18 year olds for 16 weeks. Boss Mick Aston, 56, believes the youngsters will find jobs almost as soon as the course ends. He said: "There are 36 scaffolding companies in Barnsley and as people retire they need new blood. "All the trainees are a great bunch of lads. They are punctual, they have great attitudes to work and they are generally unbelievable." Huddersfield-born Mick recently returned from Uganda where he spent a month in the capital Kampala working on a contract involving workers on inland oil rigs. He was shadowed by a security guard on the insistence of the oil firms. Mick's firm employs 11 and trains workers how to build scaffolding and use machine like cherry pickers safely. The company moved to the former premises of BXL and BP Chemicals on Huddersfield Road near the M1 junction in January 2012. Turnover is about £1m. Mick added: "We needed somewhere with a bit more space and scoured Yorkshire until we found somewhere ideal in Barnsley." Mick has worked for a number of scaffolding companies including Kwikform UK, IBN, UBM Scaffolding and SGB.
