State visit

THE SECRETARY of State for Local Government has turned her hand to car repair.

Hazel Blears MP (pictured right) visited the FST SMaRT garage in Manchester where she helped change a customer’s oil and spark plugs.

FST SMaRT, a member of the Good Garage Scheme, works with long-term unemployed people and those with a range of physical and mental disadvantages to help them gain qualifications and work experience.

The SMaRT project is run by the First Step Trust, a national charity set up to help those people into the workplace who would ordinarily struggle to access paid employment.

The garage’s service manager Joe Barnwell said: “Hazel’s support is very important to us and her visit went very well – we got a lot of positive feedback.”