Charles and Camilla tour Ayrshire emergency vehicle company

The Duchess of Rothesay sat behind the wheel of a £260,000 fire engine as she joined the Prince on a tour of a company that produces emergency vehicles.

Charles and Camilla visited Emergency One (E1) which manufactures fleets of emergency vehicles for fire services across the UK.

During their short tour of the company based in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, the couple chatted to some of the firm's 180 employees, including 30 apprentices.

The company works with The Prince's Trust, taking on a number of young people though their training courses and offering apprenticeships for auto electricians, coach builders, mechanical fitters and automotive painters.

Camilla was invited into the driving seat of a fire engine and shown how to switch on its lights and siren.

The couple saw how the vehicles began their journey as a basic shell before the interiors were filled with vital fire-fighting equipment.

They also saw engineers, electricians and coach builders completing the vehicles at the plant.

Camilla, wearing a lime green Mr Roy suit and Burberry trench coat, toured one side of the vast garage, while Charles, who wore a light grey suit, chatted to workers and apprentices on the other.

Gavin Walker, 19, a first year apprentice from nearby Auchinleck, said: "He was just asking me how long I'd been here and how I'd picked up the skills. He was civil and nice and was interested in what I did."

Among the others who the couple spoke to was Leeona McEwan, 18, a second year apprentice from Kilmarnock.

She said: "There's three women in total, but I'm the only apprentice. Camilla was saying to me that it was good that I was a woman in a man's world. She was asking me how I was treated and what I did."