'ON yer bike' used to be blunt advice to the jobless – today it is Alstom UK's call to those already working within the company.

But the plea is meant in the nicest possible way as it tries to encourage staff to abandon their cars in favour of cycling to and from work.

The chance to buy a new bike, tax free, for commuting is now one of the many benefits of working for the global leader in rail infrastructure, power generation and transmission.

And many of the more than 200 employees taking up the offer are based at the firm's Stafford facility – which is a finalist in The Sentinel Business Awards in the Michelin Tyre plc-sponsored Environmental Business category, while apprentice Richard Keatman is in the Stoke-on-Trent College-backed Apprentice of the Year finals.

At Stafford, Alstom is implementing a range of green initiatives aimed at cutting its greenhouse gas emissions and energy use by 20 per cent by 2015.

It has already succeeded in coming close to the top 10 per cent in a nationwide Government ranking of companies reducing their carbon output last year.

Environmental health services manager Owen Landon said: "Achieving sustainability and reducing our environmental impact will also bring reduced energy costs and overheads, making us more competitive."

Initiatives include a new radiant gas-heating system replacing steam heating, motion sensor-controlled lighting, waste reduction and recycling schemes. On-site electricity generation installed in 2010 is predicted to cut consumption by almost a quarter of a million units per year – a saving of almost 40 per cent.

Doing his bit on a different front, 22-year-old Keatman – a third-year welding apprentice – has just been judged as England's best in his field.

To gain that accolade he won top prize last year in the BOC Gases-sponsored Apprentice Welder of the Year award, beating 11 other finalists and 200 entrants overall.

At the end of a one-year course at Warwickshire College he had achieved the seven qualifications required for him to work as a fully coded welder, and went on to a placement welding high-pressure steam pipes at a Nottinghamshire power station.