Customer Service Apprentice

HOVERTRAVEL LIMITED

Southsea (PO5 3AD)

Closes in 22 days (Saturday 31 January 2026 at 11:59pm)

Posted on 6 January 2026

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Summary

We are looking for friendly and approachable people who would enjoy helping passengers, to support the operational team in the Hovertravel terminal, ensuring an excellent customer experience at all times.

Assist in the smooth running of all other terminal-based operations.

Wage

£14,526.20 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age

National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Apprentice pay will increase on 1 April to £8 per hour.

Training course
Customer service practitioner (level 2)
Hours
Shifts are either: PM - Long Day - AM PM Mon to Sun- 1245-1900 Long Day 0615-1900 AM Mon to Fri 0600-1315 Sat 0715-1315 Sun 0745-1315 . Shifts will vary each week.

37 hours a week

Start date

Sunday 1 February 2026

Duration

1 year

Positions available

2

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

  • Sell and issue flight tickets, process freight, and sell other merchandise and products as deemed appropriate by the company.
  • Operate and maintain the company ticketing and booking system, ensuring that it is kept accurate and up to date at all times.
  • Receive payment by cash, cheque, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
  • Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers within company guidelines.
  • Reconcile the balance of the amount of money taken in with the total sales recorded at the end of each shift.
  • Answer enquiries related to the company's web booking system, resolving issues where possible.
  • Assist with the control of passengers and the general public in and around the terminal building.
  • Manage the queues outside the terminal, directing passengers or assisting with queries in situ, as appropriate.
  • Generate business by proactively promoting Hovertravel outside the terminal
  • Answer inbound telephone calls

 

Where you'll work

HovertravelClarence Esplanade
Southsea
PO5 3AD

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

HAVANT AND SOUTH DOWNS COLLEGE

Training course

Customer service practitioner (level 2)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Use a range of questioning skills, including listening and responding in a way that builds rapport, determines customer needs and expectations and achieves positive engagement and delivery.
  • Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills, along with summarising language during face-to-face communications; and/or
  • Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
  • Depending on your job role and work environment: Use an appropriate ‘tone of voice’ in all communications, including written and digital, that reflect the organisation’s brand.
  • Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
  • Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.
  • Demonstrate patience and calmness.
  • Show you understand the customer’s point of view.
  • Use appropriate sign-posting or resolution to meet your customers needs and manage expectations.
  • Maintain informative communication during service recovery.

Training schedule

The apprentice will be undertaking training for the Customer Service Practitioner Level 2.  All learning for this will take place in the workplace with support from our work-based trainer who will meet with the apprentice around once a month.

Requirements

Desirable qualifications

GCSE in:

  • English (grade 4)
  • Maths (grade 4)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Team working
  • Initiative

About this employer

Hovertravel is the world’s longest running commercial hovercraft service and is the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service in the Europe. Hovertravel offers the fastest way to cross the Solent between Southsea, Portsmouth and Ryde, Isle of Wight. Hovertravel operate two hovercraft with a frequent service (plus additional services at commuter times) and the journey time is just under 10 minutes. 

The hovercraft is a tourist attraction in its own right. Hovertravel was established in 1965 and over 30 million passengers have travelled on the service. The advantage of the hovercraft is that they can travel at extremely low tides. If it hadn't been for the tides, Hovertravel might never have existed. The low tides at Ryde, take the sea out far beyond the town's esplanade, and it has always been impossible for any ship to berth anywhere near roads or bus routes. Until 1965, the only passenger ferries from Portsmouth stopped at the end of Ryde’s third of a mile long pier.

Ferries that travel only in water still have to use the end of the pier today. But Hovertravel seized on the hovercraft's ability to travel across both water and land and launched their service in 1965. No matter what the tide was doing, passengers could embark and disembark in exactly the right place, with no need to trundle up and down the pier as an additional requirement of their journey.

For 60 years, the Hovercraft has been the fastest and most convenient way to cross the Solent, and Hovertravel is proud that it continues to provide its customers with this unique service. Whether it is carrying commuters and school children between Ryde and Southsea, enabling those who live on the Isle of Wight to shop in Portsmouth, access medical facilities, operate a speedy critical transfer service for the NHS, carry tourists to the Isle of Wight, or transport concert-goers to the famous Isle of Wight Festival, the hovercraft is the fastest way to travel across the Solent, going directly from shore to shore.

 

http://www.hovertravel.co.uk (opens in new tab)

Disability Confident

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

After successful completion of the apprenticeship, you could progress to various roles:

Hovercraft sales agent, Hovercraft Handling agent, Terminal supervisor.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

HAVANT AND SOUTH DOWNS COLLEGE

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000006351.

Apply now

Closes in 22 days (Saturday 31 January 2026 at 11:59pm)