Apprentice lands 'ideal' placement after viral plea

An apprentice electrician whose work placement fell through is back on track with her studies after receiving an "insane" response to a social media plea for help.

Sophia Hunt,18, was in the first year of her apprenticeship at Bournemouth and Poole College in Dorset last year when her placement company let her down, just before Christmas.

Without an employer, she would have had to restart her course, so her mother sent a message on social media "in sheer panic", receiving thousands of replies.

Ms Hunt, who is now working with Ecosafe, said: "It's been such an overwhelming feeling with everyone supporting me but also finding the ideal company to follow out the rest of my apprenticeship."

Speaking on BBC Radio Solent's Dorset Breakfast show, her mother, Lucy Tuttle, said: "I put something up at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning in sheer panic and it just went a bit crazy.

"Every day, people seem to still be sharing it and liking it and I have to keep going back and say 'it's OK, she's got a place'.

Ms Hunt said: "The support was insane.

"I'm half way through my second year and I'm working with Ecosafe.

"I'm having so much fun with it, meeting new people."