Ian Lyons
Area Manager
Vehicle Inspection (South)
I joined FTA on 3 august 1987 (is it really that long) as an Area Engineer (then called Vehicle Inspector) covering the Essex and East London Areas
I continued in this role for 17 years and enjoyed every moment of it (well nearly) and because of this I never actually thought of applying for promotion. The things I enjoyed about the job then were the feeling of belonging to a team, carrying out a very worthwhile service and of course the interaction with the members.
With encouragement from my line manager I applied for and was successful in being promoted to Area Manager. The Area Managers role can be very demanding as no two days are the same and you don't always know what the next challenge is around the corner.
I enjoy the challenge and the flexibility of the job which is part administrative and a large part hands on in the field. This involves carrying out training and ensuring that FTA's high standards of vehicle inspections are maintained, through ongoing monitoring of reports and field liaison visits with the Area engineers in my team.
Whilst there is not as much direct interaction with our members, I still meet some of them when I carry out field visits and also receive feedback from my team of first class engineers.
