Arriva drivers to pull bus for children in need

Some of Arriva's bus drivers based in the Medway Towns will beswapping their steering wheels for a rope at 8pm on Friday 17November as part of a series of events they will be undertaking toraise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal.

 The rope will be used to pull a 10-tondouble decker bus around Chatham bus station as many times as theycan, collecting money as they go.

Arriva staff at Gillingham depot will be carrying out otherevents amongst themselves to raise funds, but the bus pull will letthe public join in by cheering them on.

Organiser, driver Colin Adcock, said:

The staff at Gillingham depot have been raising moneyfor Children in Need for several years now and we like to organisedifferent events each year to capture people's imagination. The BusPull is something very different and can be watched by the public.It's a bit of fun and it's all done for charity.

Notes to editors

• Arriva is one of the largest private sector providers ofpassenger transport in mainland Europe. Employing more than 30,000people and providing more than one billion passenger journeys everyyear.
• Arriva provides transport services including buses, trains,commuter coaches and water buses in eight European countries –Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Swedenand the UK .
• Arriva is the largest private bus operator in Italy, Denmarkand the Netherlands and is London's largest operator. Arriva wasthe first private company to be awarded rail contracts in Denmark.
• In the last five years, the turnover of Arriva's mainlandEuropean operations has increase by more than 250 per cent to£514.8 million (Euro € 746 million).
• Arriva was the first UK transport company to become a signatoryofthe European Road Safety Charter.