Bosses behind new London Routemaster bus...

[Deleted]

Bosses behind new London Routemaster bus fly to Poland to hire drivers after 'turning down Britons'

Bus firm flew bosses to Poland to hire 50 foreign drivers after claiming they could not find Brits to fill the jobs
2.46million Britons on the dole... but company still goes abroad for workers
Emerges days after Home-office sponsored groups says immigrants ARE taking British jobs

A UK bus operator flew bosses to Poland to recruit 50 new drivers despite there being 2.6million people on the dole in the UK.

Abellio, a subsidiary of the Dutch state rail operator, claimed it could not find suitable British candidates to work on routes in central and South West London.

The firm went on a massive recruitment drive in former Soviet country to expand its workforce. They claimed that there were 'no suitable' Britons.

But a current employee at the transport giant said he knew a number of friends who had been interviewed for the posts - and turned down.

'The Routemaster will soon be back in the capital. What a shame if British drivers miss out on the chance to drive it,' the driver, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sun.

An Abellio spokesman said: 'In order to supplement recruitment in the UK we held an open day in Poland where 51 experienced bus drivers were recruited.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086652/Bosses-new-London-Routemaster-bus-fly-Poland-hire-drivers-turning-Britons.html

Oh come on Daily Mail give them a break...

The TFL should be employing new drivers to fill the gaps...

And conductors as well! What is the fear of the people taking a job for? They need to do something in life instead of getting depressed infront of tv living on the dole!

There are bus drivers in London of all different ethnic backgrounds which i have nothing against. They are doing a good brave job being the drivers! I even spoken to some online.

Daily Mail is being misleading to day that the "routemaster" is coming back, but really it's the rollout of the NB4L's is coming over!

And if the British people are scared of working, why dont they be put into the police training or army training to man themselves up into becoming brave workers!

[vjaska]

Usual Daily Mail drivel - there are many British people who simply don't want to work and rather end up making 10,000 babies which all us taxpayers then have to pay for. As long as immigrants come here to work and integrate into society including learning more than basic English, that's fine though we are coming close to turning into 'India' in terms of how crowded this country is getting.

Just to point out, I'm English, Polish & Irish.

[romfordbuses]

Dec 13, 2012 9:05:41 GMT @mredd said:

We have loads of unemployed people, but how many of them actually want to or make an active effort to be a bus driver? A lot of people seem to have wild ideas about employment and will settle for nothing else.

Indeed, I think its the case of where people nowdays see bus driving jobs in the same light as being a litter picker for example. Whereas the Polish from experience will do any job to get money.

[M1104]

That newspaper article sounds similar to the one printed when Abellio were recruiting drivers to cover their takeover of the C2.

[Deleted]

Yes, i'm pretty sure i've heard this story ages ago!

Anyway, its worth using a different news organisation as the Daily Fail is never reliable, and they are excellent at exageration and truth-twisting.

[vjaska]

Dec 13, 2012 9:05:41 GMT @mredd said:

Dec 13, 2012 3:24:41 GMT vjaska said:

though we are coming close to turning into 'India' in terms of how crowded this country is getting.

This sounds a bit like some "usual Daily Mail drivel", the crowded UK thing is a complete myth. Only place that seems to be truly crowded is certain parts of London - East London, Lambeth, Southwark...
If we had the will, we could build much more housing.
To be honest, the heart of the housing crisis is not a housing shortage per se, it's that house prices are far too high - and that is partly due to excessive payouts on housing benefit - whatever landlords demand the government will pay. In terms of actual land, just 2% of the UK's land is actually built upon.

To be honest, I'm not surprised Abellio have gone to Poland. We have loads of unemployed people, but how many of them actually want to or make an active effort to be a bus driver? A lot of people seem to have wild ideas about employment and will settle for nothing else.

So it's a complete myth that the population rises every year - and all the government can say is 'build more houses' which doesn't help. This is why services like the NHS are struggling - sure its not the only reason but its contributing factor. Immigration has to be controlled properly and I don't mean let no one in but making sure we don't become the next 'India'

'mredd' - I do not read the Daily Mail

[Deleted]

Plus the census which is government controlled. Plus its all a myth as i known many people never done it. So people should look at the real world instead of relying on the media...

But TFL should never let their sub contractors go to other countries asking for more drivers. It should be down to TFL putting their jobs on the internet as the sub contractor suppose to be running and maintaining the buses, and paying the drivers.

If people from other countries want to apply, they can. But they have to come up there at their own expense.
Or might never know they would end up as one if they changed their jobs in London.

[Steve80]

Dec 13, 2012 10:35:36 GMT M1104 said:

That newspaper article sounds similar to the one printed when Abellio were recruiting drivers to cover their takeover of the C2.

It is the same story. Notice its been updated from 10th december.

There are lots of agency drivers at QB. Im sure theres around 70 agency drivers in that rota list. Maybe more. I understand that they earn a lower pay of around £9 ph compared to the starter rate drivers who earn about £11. Probably explains why abellio went overseas to employ drivers for their london operations.

I spoke to one polish driver who said he earns much money here. His weekly pay in london takes him a month to earn in poland.

Oh yes, a friend of mine who is british, applied to work at abellio, passed his test and is currently there with the starter rate of £11. Seems like im defending abellio and the daily mail for printing such an article but i thought i just point it out.

[Deleted]

what a misleading title!

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2012 20:16:57 GMT @joseph said:

what a misleading title!

because the full title from the daily mail cant fit onto here

[RM5chris]

Dec 13, 2012 21:17:45 GMT @mredd said:

Dec 13, 2012 14:10:31 GMT @freebbc said:

Plus the census which is government controlled. Plus its all a myth as i known many people never done it. So people should look at the real world instead of relying on the media...

Thanks for the tin-foil-hat take on things, I don't think the census is "all a myth". Not filling out the census is illegal and would make you liable for a £1000 fine. The likelihood of someone wanting to risk a huge fine just because they can't be bothered to fill it out is minimal.

Also, if anyone's going to be able to keep tabs on everyone in the UK, it's the government. Who's got data on everyone, after all? Let's face it, a look into the "real world" isn't going to tell you anything expect "People live in the area I'm looking at". While that's true, it's also useless

They were talking about the census on LBC today and for religion, whereas last time alot of people listed 'Jedi' IIRC, this time as a religion a lot of people put 'Heavy Metal'.

Think I shall do that next time....