Arriva welcomes new drivers from Poland

Arriva Scotland West has welcomed four new Polish bus drivers toits driving team at Inchinnan depot – Marek Osikowicz, TomaszKakitek, Wieslaw Rymarczyk and Adrian Gromadzinski – joined Arrivaearlier this month from Krakow.

Arriva is working in partnership with a training company, basedin Krakow, which helps to facilitate the relocation of people fromPoland to the UK in a managed, supportive way. They are givenEnglish language training, capability and competency tests and areprepared for the cultural change, rather than simply making a moveto a different country.

The new employees are qualified, trained and experienced busdrivers. The initiative complements Arriva's continuous recruitmentefforts, in turn enabling it to provide more stable and reliableservice levels for customers.

Another Polish speaking driver, Colin McLachlan, who was alreadyemployed locally and is based at our Johnstone depot, has been onhand to help if any dialect words, or strong Glasgow accents needtranslating!

Arriva Scotland West director and general manager Ian Craig,said:

We operate in some areas where there are buoyant labourmarkets and sometimes it can prove difficult to recruit driverslocally.

We are keen to employ people as bus drivers from withinthe communities we serve – and we are also happy to receiveapplications from suitably qualified Europeancitizens.

He added:

It is important to ensure that these drivers areproperly prepared for relocation and that they are right for thejob. Their move to the UK is organised professionally and they aregiven every support, including assistance with documentation andsuitable accommodation.

We try to make the move as easy as possible in awelcoming environment and have involved local trades unions inintegrating the drivers. We have even organised social evenings andother events both in Poland and in the UK.

All new drivers receive training from Arriva's training schoolfor the first few weeks after they have arrived. After that, eachdriver is allocated an experienced driver as a 'buddy' for thefirst few weeks while they are out on the road.

Ian Craig said:

This is working really well. Our drivers have welcomedtheir new colleagues; they are settling in well, have made contactwith the local Polish community – and are making a goodcontribution by helping us to deliver services forcustomers.

Arriva Scotland West employs 313 bus drivers and operates acrossRenfrewshire.