WHEN 19-year-old Josh Sharrard-Bewhay returned home to Parkend after a year in Australia he was looking forward to finding a job and getting his life back in order.

However, he soon found that living in Parkend, without a driving licence, left him high and dry with virtually no regular public transport, other than three morning buses a day into Lydney.

Although he is sitting his driving test shortly, he condemns the local bus service as a total disgrace.

“Apart from the 727 bus to Lydney there is no way of getting to work anywhere unless I hitch hike,” he said.

“It is no wonder that so many young people living in the Forest are forced to move out of the area just to be able to make a living.

“I love the Forest and I don’t think I could have ever had a richer childhood than I have had in the Forest of Dean.

"But as a young adult it’s a completely different story.

“The only support we get is from the Job Centre and agencies and I really couldn’t decide who is less helpful. “Is there support from schools? No, not the right support. I can promise everyone reading this that people my age have absolutely no idea what we are doing.

“Some move on to other places or university, brilliant, but what about the people left behind?

“People just don’t care about them. These people are my friends, and I want them to be happy and have the support they deserve.

“Right then, who’s to blame? Lets find someone to shout at and chase with pitchforks.

“Unfortunately there is no one directly to blame, it’s the way things are run at the moment.

“So, who is our representative here for the way things are run? Mark Harper. Unfortunately, our MP didn’t get back to me so I can’t tell you his opinion.”

Josh is also critical of job agencies, which are paid on commission to find jobs for people but with no long term commitment.

He says the end result is a raw deal for young people many of whom go off the rails to to the lack of prospects in life.

He said: “What does this all mean for people my age? It means, for some, the first taste of working life is a bitter one that makes them generally unhappy and disconnected from any kind of motivation for life.

“I’m sorry but anyone who tells me it’s just life, to be any of the two things, needs to seriously think about the implications that can have.

“I’ve seen some of my friends resort to things as severe as drug dealing, stealing and falsely obtaining benefits, so we have to ask ourselves as a community what can we do because we obviously don’t want these things in our Forest.”