Neil

When Neil McLellan from Airdrie developed a debilitating disability, he thought his 15 year career as a delivery driver had reached the end of the road. Now, with the help of Remploy, the Elvis-loving Scott is celebrating being king of the road once again.

Neil has just completed his trial placement at Christian Salvesen's depot in Motherwell to become a full time LGV driver. He is a familiar face to Salvesen customers across Lanarkshire, but look back a few months and Neil was claiming incapacity benefit and becoming increasingly depressed at his lack of prospects.

Neil has psoriatic arthritis, characterised by joint pain and swelling, and was forced to give up his previous job delivering washing machines in March 2003.

"I was keen to find another driving job but had to admit that I couldn't handle any lifting," said Neil, 40. "Potential employers were soon put off by my disability and so I had to claim benefit and was stuck at home for nearly three years."

Christian Salvesen's Motherwell depot and Remploy have developed an innovative, jointly-funded programme at the site to give LGV training to potential drivers.

"My Remploy advisor listened to what I wanted, set up my interview and encouraged me every step of the way," continues Neil. "I was put through my LGV Class 2 training and haven't looked back since. I used to dread going to work, now I wake up and look forward to it."