Three young unemployed people have gained work at a West Dumbarton lighting manufacturer.

Ledtek Lighting, which designs and manufactures LED products, joined forces with Ingeus in Dumbarton in order to access the Youth Contract wage incentive.

James Kirkpatrick, Jade Leddie, and Douglas Macdougall were hired as a result of steps taken through the incentive.

James, 22, was the first to be employed and found work as a trainee production operative, assembling and soldering decorative lighting components.

Ledtek Lighting MD Allyson Byrne then approached Ingenus again in order to recruit two more trainees; Jade and Douglas.

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"James has progressed really quickly and is working on complex assemblies not usually appropriate for a trainee," she said.

"We’re looking at external engineering training for him to progress even further, and I’m sure Jade and Douglas will be equally talented."

The job at Ledtek followed 2 years of unemployment for James after he had been made redundant from a housing maintenance job.

"I got nowhere applying for jobs on my own and got really sick of being stuck at home after being used to going to work," he said.

"Ingeus helped me with my CV and job searching and supported me in applying for Ledtek Lighting. It’s a brilliant job and I really enjoy it. There are over 1,200

different products so there’s always something new to learn. I can’t wait to do some more training and carry on up the ladder."

Ms Byrne commented on the two new recruits. She said: "Chris and Arlene came to see the premises and talk about my requirements. They put forward some excellent CVs, arranged interviews and provided feedback. I thought the paperwork may be onerous but Ingeus made accessing the Youth Contract simple.

"We’re a relatively small but growing business so having the extra financial support to take on young workers and train them up has been invaluable.”

(IT)