WELSH coach companies have recruited more than 100 drivers from Malta. The companies said that they had looked abroad because local drivers feared that if they took the full-time jobs they would have to give up social security benefits.

Malta was the ideal choice because its motorists also drive on the left. The companies said that their advertising campaign had received an “overwhelming response”.

Ian McDonald, manager of Glyn Williams Travel in Risca, Newport, said his company — staffed mainly by drivers who work only 30 hours a week so it does not affect their Child Support Agency payments and tax credits — needed “stable numbers of drivers”.

Comparing it to recruiting Filipino nurses to tackle shortages in the NHS, he said: “When we heard about the opportunity to access a large pool of experienced bus drivers, we welcomed it.”

Glyn Williams Travel and Shamrock Travel, based in Pontypridd, advertised the vacancies in Malta. There were more than 170 applicants and 107 are expected to take up positions with the two firms in the new year.

They will be receive a fortnightly wage of £694 and accommodation and will be offered English lessons.

Mr McDonald said that bus companies across the UK were struggling to fill about 30,000 vacancies nationwide.

But Kim Howells, the Transport Minister and MP for Pontypridd, said that the benefits system was not to blame for the shortage.

He said: “Unemployment has never been lower in South Wales and the labour market is a very competitive one. Bus companies have to pay the going rate if they want the staff to stay with them.”

The family tax credits system was designed to boost the earnings of low-paid workers, up to a living wage, rather than encouraging them to cut their workload, he said.

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