An army of more than 400 Polish drivers has been drafted in to work on buses in the West Midlands, UK, the Express & Star can reveal.
The newcomers, who were recruited and trained in Wroclaw in Poland, now make up around one eighth of the total number of drivers on the payroll at bus giant Travel West Midlands.
Most have been brought in during the last 18 months to ease a staffing crisis.
Bus bosses say they have previously had to fly drivers in from Dundee to make up for the dire shortage of local drivers in some parts of the West Midlands.
The company, which has around 3,000 drivers on its books, has even employed a driving instructor to work in Poland to make sure the drivers are fully trained.
Travel West Midlands spokesman Phil Bateman said today the Polish recruitment drive had been "very successful" and would continue.
He described the training in Poland as "rigorous", saying it involved skills on par with the UK.
"We have been doing all that we can to make people aware of the need to support the public transport system," he said.
"Recruiting this new wave of European Union citizens will continue to play an important role in ensuring we have the trained staff to safely drive buses that can deliver local benefits for our community."
Despite the influx of Poles there are still vacancies for drivers all over the Black Country and Birmingham, including Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Birmingham.
In March last year a row erupted when it was revealed that a Polish driver who crashed his Pete's Travel bus into a van in Quarry Bank high street, could not speak a word of English.
But TWM insists that its drivers all speak English.
Exclusive by Mark Douglas |