Evacuee becomes bus driver

A Ukrainian evacuee has become a bus driver in Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, under a recruitment scheme backed by the government.

Volodymyr Syrotiuk worked in a warehouse and drove HGVs (heavy goods vehicles) near Kyiv before the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Now living in the town of Brighton, the 61-year-old said his job had made settling into the UK easier.

The UK has been short of bus drivers since the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, and CPT [Confederation of Passenger Transport] UK, which represents the bus and coach sector, has estimated that 7% of bus driver posts are vacant.