Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Xplore Dundee chief on why he’s ‘optimistic’ about cancellations after recruitment issues

David Phillips, Xplore Dundee director and general manager.
David Phillips, Xplore Dundee director and general manager.

Dundee’s main bus operator says it is “cautiously optimistic” about the reliability of its services after a change in its driver recruitment process.

The operator blamed a shortage of drivers as more than 100 buses were cancelled on some days during the summer.

The firm first reported issues with staffing numbers as far back as September 2021.

Xplore said drivers were leaving the industry because of anti-social hours, congestion and “having to juggle customer service with maintaining a timetable”.

But in recent weeks the average number of buses failing to run has dropped – with no services cancelled at all on some days.

The firm – whose billionaire owners recently bought over a rival firm – has not confirmed how many new drivers it has taken on to address the shortage, but says it was forced to change its recruitment tactics as it struggled to get workers on board.

David Phillips, director and general manager, told The Courier: “We are cautiously optimistic of an improving picture but we operate against a background of a national shortage of drivers, where a high percentage of staff continue to exit the industry.

Previous recruitment process ‘slow on delivering drivers’

“Our recruitment process was previously outsourced and was slow on delivering driver numbers through into service – we have therefore taken recruitment back in house.

“We have also increased rates of pay to £13.50 per hour, making Dundee drivers among the highest paid outside London.

“Lead-in times for new drivers are necessarily quite lengthy, so we may continue to experience shortages going forward, but we very much hope to see our revised recruitment efforts yield eventual success.”

Fellow operator Stagecoach East Scotland continues to cancel dozens of services across Tayside and Fife each day as it also deals with a shortage of drivers and staff sickness.

Conversation