FIVE hundred free bus tickets have been provided to get unemployed people to a jobs fair.

The complementary travel passes have been provided for the one-day Skills Village, at Redcar and Cleveland College, on Wednesday.

Bus company Arriva teamed up with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, using money from the Single Regeneration Budget to provide the service.

The tickets are available from Loftus, Eston and Redcar JobCentres, Reed In Partnership, South Bank, The Wise Group and Positive People Development, Redcar, and in Grangetown at both the FROG office and the Linc Centre.

Organisers of Skills Village hope to attract more than 5,000 visitors to the event, which will be open from 10am until 6.30pm.

More than 110 organisations will be there, including B&Q, Garland Call Centres, Hollywood Bowl, Transco and the Royal Air Force, colleges and universities.

Graham Hubbard, Job Connect project officer, said: "Every resident in Redcar and Cleveland is invited. We want people to look at what is on offer and consider the possibility of training for a new career or get involved in the voluntary sector.