YOUNG Jackson Sanders never misses the bus if he can avoid it.

So the 10-year-old from London Road, Ascot was thrilled when bus operators First invited him to their Slough depot to find out what it is like to work in the industry.

Jackson’s visit was set up after his mother mentioned his love of buses to Marc Reddy, managing director of First Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire.

On his visit, he toured the workshops and maintenance area with Simon Goff, First Berkshire’s general manager.

There, he learned about the 24-hour operation which keeps the buses running in and around Slough and on services connecting Berkshire to Heathrow Airport and London.

He boarded his own ‘chartered’ bus, driven by Mo Safraz, First’s mobile inspector, who took him and his parents for a ride around the centre of Slough. Back at the depot, both Mr Goff and Mudasar Ali, First’s workshop planning manager, answered a series of questions from the inquisitive Jackson, who is a pupil at Papplewick School in Ascot.

He wanted to know all he could about the services First runs in Berkshire and how the company decides which routes to operate in the county – the company revealed plans in August to withdraw services from Bracknell as its depot in the town was closing.

However, the firm also introduced a revised 702 Greenline from Bracknell to London which incorporates stops at Heatherwood Hospital and Legoland to compensate for the withdrawal.

After the trip, Jackson said: “I really enjoyed the visit, especially the special bus journey and getting answers to all my questions.

“I still want to train as a bus driver, but I was very interested to learn about all the other jobs there are within one company.”

As a memento of his visit, Mr Goff presented Jackson with a special ‘trainee driver’ high visibility jacket and sets of timetables and fare charts.

Mr Goff added: “It was a pleasure to meet Jackson and show him around the depot. We were all very impressed by the depth of his knowledge both of the bus industry and also our local services.”

Mr Goff also opened up the chance for Jackson to secure himself a job with the firm in the future.

He added: “We hope he will come back and see us in a few years’ time after he has passed his driving test as we might have a job for him here.”

For more information about First Berkshire and the services it runs across the county, go to www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/berkshire_thames First Berkshire is also on Twitter @firstberkshire where service updates are posted to keep bus users abreast of any delays to services.