Midland Metro Limited – operator of the West Midlands Metro – have joined forces with the public health team at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to help make the tram even safer with the offer of rapid testing to West Midlands Metro staff as frontline workers.
This is just the latest step that Midland Metro Limited have taken to make the tram as safe as possible in the current climate with a service continuing to operate for essential journeys, including for those who are now travelling for their vaccinations.
Anthony Stanley, Head of Quality, Health and Safety and the Environment, said: “Employees such as drivers and conductors are considered key workers, and, thanks to their efforts, we’ve been able to maintain an essential service for those who still need to travel during the pandemic. Now that lateral flow testing has become more widely available, we’ve struck an agreement with the council which is offering members of the Metro team priority access to test appointments at West Bromwich Town Hall. This represents another major step forward in our fight against the virus as one in three people who catch COVID-19 do not show any symptoms and wouldn’t know they have it.”
In the first week since test were made available more than 100 frontline staff have booked a test. So far just one person has tested positive, and the individual is now self isolating while they wait the result of a further PCR antigen test.