There’s no set route and you don’t need a ticket but once you’ve been aboard there’s no limit to where you can go: The Learnbus is the latest venture from the GMB and unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation that works with unions and employers to offer workplace training.

The double-decker is being used as a mobile learning centre, travelling between workplaces that don't have learning facilities.

The top deck features an IT suite. Similar facilities are also available downstairs for disabled visitors. The lower deck is laid out as an advice and information centre so visitors can find out what learning opportunities are available.

Unionlearn project worker Marie Qazzaz first devised the idea of a Learnbus while working with Stagecoach staff at two of its sites that did not have learning centres.
It is now travelling across Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, helping remove barriers to learning in the workplace.

Unionlearn’s regional manager Dave Eva said: "It’s a great initiative and we are glad to be supporting it. Improving access to learning by taking the learning to workplaces is a key part of unionlearn’s strategy for reaching people who need to upskill but don’t get the opportunity because of their home responsibilities or because their employer can’t or won’t offer them training.

"We think that more providers and employers should help unions develop facilities like these to ensure we have the best trained and most competitive workforce we can."