Iain Duncan Smith is out of touch, says north east driving instructor

Oct. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- With around 116,000 people currently unemployed in the north east, Wingate-based driving instructor Dawson Straughan, says that he feels Iain Duncan Smith is out of touch, after the Work and Pensions Secretary made his controversial statement on BBC’s Newsnight programme, saying that “'We need to recognise the jobs often don't come to you. Sometimes you need to go to the jobs”, and encouraging the unemployed to “get on a bus” to find work.

Dawson, who started his own driving instruction franchise earlier this year, has seen an increase in the number of teens and unemployed people who are scraping the money together for lessons, in a bid to find work in such a competitive market.  

“I think the government’s efforts would be better spent actually creating jobs throughout the country, rather than patronising the unemployed by asking them to get on a bus and look for jobs that simply aren’t there”, he says.

“The implications are that all unemployed people are lazy and are simply sitting at home, waiting for a job to land in their lap, which isn’t at all the situation in most cases.  Over the last two months, the number of school leavers and students coming to me for instruction has risen substantially.  They are learning a vital skill which will help them considerably when looking for work.

It’s evidently fine for someone who has the transport facilities of central London to talk about hopping on a bus to find a job, but for those certainly based around the north east, particularly in rural areas, the transport links aren’t there and “hopping on a bus” simply isn’t feasible.  I’d recommend that Mr Duncan Smith actually speaks to some of these unemployed individuals before he starts to advise them”.

Dawson, who was a motorcycle instructor with Stockton Council for 15 years and now is working with both the Ministry of Defence, potential taxi drivers and regular customers to help them pass their driving test, would like to see the government offer more constructive initiatives to help the unemployed into work.  “Implementing initiatives in certain areas, such as offering low cost loans or grants to help them pass their test and buy a car or providing subsidised IT equipment so they can work remotely or look for work online I think would be well received”, he says.  “North easterners are proud individuals and we should be encouraging locals to remain within the area; not, as is unfortunately happening, having to travel or ultimately, move away to find work”.

-ENDS-

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Claire Shiels 07917 734613          claire@csm-comms.co.uk
Dawson Straughan 07889397535