Sixteen people have secured jobs at a Keighley supermarket thanks to a support and training partnership between it and Bradford Council.

A tailor-made course was devised to train people to match jobs on offer at the Asda store, in Bingley Street.

Staff at Keighley Training Group — part of the council’s Skills for Work — put together the course, which included issues such as customer service, confidence building and team working. Those who have got jobs as a result include Damyan Foster — who had been unemployed for two years and is now working in the store’s grocery department — and Steven Hall, who had difficulty finding suitable work because of health problems but is now employed as a cleaner at the supermarket.

More than 80 per cent of those who attended the course also passed a customer service qualification and eight people got jobs with other employers in the area.

Skills for Work and Asda will continue to work together to help people with training and employment opportunities.

Councillor Michael Kelly, the council’s executive member for services to children and young people, said: “It is vital, especially during this current economic climate, that we do as much as we can to help local people find jobs and to ensure that local employers recruit from the surrounding community. This training course has achieved just that and I am delighted that it has been such a success.”

Karl Brown, Asda Keighley store manager, said: “It is a pleasure to be serving and working with the people of Keighley. A big thank you to Keighley Training Group — we couldn’t have made the journey without it.”