Bus driver shortage ?

[notadriver]

A friend has been asking me about the possibility of his Filipino bus driver friend currently working in the Phillipines. transferring to the UK to work.
Given it’s financially beneficial to train our own bus drivers at a cost of £1500 approx and that there are qualified pcv drivers fighting for jobs in the north east of England, is there then really a bus driver shortage in the UK? Do we really need to import drivers in from other countries to fill positions ?

 

[matt_world2004]

A friend has been asking me about the possibility of his Filipino bus driver friend currently working in the Phillipines. transferring to the UK to work.
Given it’s financially beneficial to train our own bus drivers at a cost of £1500 approx and that there are qualified pcv drivers fighting for jobs in the north east of England, is there then really a bus driver shortage in the UK? Do we really need to import drivers in from other countries to fill positions ?

There is in London now , I read somewhere that half of all lost mileage in London is caused by staff absence/shortage /sickness

 

[RT4038]

A friend has been asking me about the possibility of his Filipino bus driver friend currently working in the Phillipines. transferring to the UK to work.
Given it’s financially beneficial to train our own bus drivers at a cost of £1500 approx and that there are qualified pcv drivers fighting for jobs in the north east of England, is there then really a bus driver shortage in the UK? Do we really need to import drivers in from other countries to fill positions ?

Is this Filipino bus driver going to work in the north east of England? If not, and if the fighting qualified pcv drivers in the north east are not prepared to move to those parts of the country where vacancies exist, then presumably we need to import?

 

[scotrail158713]

NE England must be the only area with a surplus of drivers. Any other area I know of is really short.

 

[bobslack1982]

NE England must be the only area with a surplus of drivers. Any other area I know of is really short.

It’s a weird one if there’s a surplus of drivers as Go North East appear to be permanently recruiting new ones.

 

[John B]

Arriva Yorkshire actually recruited in Poland quite a few years ago to alleviate a driver shortage.

 

[Robertj21a]

I thought just about all areas of the UK had a bus driver shortage. There can't be many fully staffed.

 

[overthewater]

Edinburgh its been said has a 40 driver shortage.

 

[Geordie driver]

Even in the North East with it's high unemployment they had problems not so much recruiting drivers but retaining them, then when it became possible to recruit from Europe they flooded the job and used it as an excuse to worsen conditions. I know a few people who still work for arriva and go-ahead in the north east and they tell me there is a massive turn over of drivers.

 

[Eyersey468]

We are really short of drivers at the company I work for, the whole industry seems to be.