A top government minister has praised the work of a Gravesend garage in helping getting young people on the road to employment.

Iain Duncan Smith handed out an apprenticeship contract to George Burman on behalf of Gravesham council when he visited Auto22 garage on the Lions Business Park.

The secretary of state for work and pensions said: “It is fantastic at Auto22 – really, really inspiring. It’s exactly the right kind of thing, getting young kids ready from school and after school, who have basically fallen through the system, haven’t really got the qualifications and maybe have difficult troubled family lives.”

The garage was launched by the young people’s charity Catch22. It offers servicing and repairs for all makes and models of cars and light vans.

Mr Duncan Smith continued: “I love the practical layout of the Skills Centre. I love the idea of the instructors working with the young people on the mechanical variations of various motor cars and bikes, then the transfer through to the apprenticeship work experience process and then on to a job contract like George Burman has achieved.”

Gravesham council’s Nick Brown added: “George did a four-week trial and proved he can commit to that working environment.

“He’ll a real asset to us and probably end up getting a full time placement. He has now got the opportunity to move through the team. If we’ve got people with particular talent, skills and flair, we’ll see what we can do to help them.”

George said: “I think it’s a really good opportunity and I’m looking forward to starting. I didn’t do very well at school and Auto22 has really helped me, it has trained me up to do my NVQ Level One and I’ve had a year’s apprenticeship in the professional garage.”