A £12m apprentice hub which trains teenagers in everything from cryogenics to racing car design says it is struggling to get young recruits.

Oxfordshire Advanced Skills at Culham spoke about the challenge after holding its latest job fair last Thursday.

Some 140 teenagers and their parents flocked to the event to check out apprenticeships where they could earn £12,000 - £15,000 a year learning skills while working for the likes of Oxfordshire University or Harwell's Diamond Light Source.

But business manager Steve Hall said he still wanted to see more youngsters getting excited about science.

He said: "Oxfordshire is a hotbed of high-tech companies, they're all looking to expand, and the biggest threat they have all got is the lack of skills in the region.

"This is where Oxfordshire Advanced Skills comes in, but we are struggling to recruit these bright young people as much as everyone else.

"We'd love more people to come."

OAS was set up in 2016 by the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Culham and the Science and Technology Facilities Council at Harwell with £12m government funding.

Apprentice training provider JTL manages the centre and trains apprentices for 12 employers.

The centre was designed to train 125 young people every year, but currently has just 32 apprentices and is expecting to take 45 more in September.

Mr Hall said: "We sent out 500 leaflets about the latest event and approached every school in Oxfordshire so it would have been great to have more people.

"The ones who did come, it definitely made their minds up, but we may have a day in the future where school children come in with teachers."

A report by the Centre for Cities released last month concluded that some 16,000 jobs in Oxford were are likely to be displaced by automation and robotics by 2030.

However the study also predicted that Oxford was set for an upswing in high-skilled jobs as a result and best placed of all UK cities to tackle future changes.

The government has consistently backed plans to create more high-tech jobs in the so-called Science Vale area including Culham, Harwell and Milton Park, and the government-backed Strategic Housing Market Assessment for the county recommending building 100,000 new homes partly to house new workers in these areas.

OAS is planning to hold more open days in March. Find out more at oas.ukaea.uk or email info@oas.ukaea.uk