THE army of bus drivers that keep the wheels of the county's public transport machine turning is in need of fresh recruits.

Reporter Jennie Dennett joined Stagecoach Cumbria for an afternoon to find out what being a modern bus driver is all about.

SIZE matters. It is true - particularly for a woman who has never driven anything bigger than a Nissan Micra. Taking the helm of a generously-proportioned single-decker bus is another driving experience entirely.

"Ease it round, ease it round," says kindly Stagecoach driving instructor Bernard Sewell as the rear of the

32ft long bus swings dangerously

close to an unforgiving breezeblock wall.

"And brake." But I don't want to. This is fun - perched high above the tarmac feeling important in a seven-and-a-half tonne bus and manoeuvring it for the first time around Kendal's Stagecoach depot.

"BRAKE!" says Bernard again as the end of the garage looms and I try to ease to a professional halt, but instead perform a passenger-hurling emergency stop. Air brakes are unforgiving things!

As my driving taster session comes to a lurching end I have to conclude that being behind the wheel of such a sizeable vehicle is extremely enjoyable. Yet getting people to give bus driving a go is proving a tough task.

Gone are the days when little children dreamed of a career in the cab of a train, plane or automobile.

For Stagecoach Cumbria it is proving a serious problem. Only one person booked in for a preliminary chat at a company recruitment day at Kendal Job Centre.

"The biggest problem is the unemployment rate it's only 0.71 per cent," says Becky Poole, the management trainee and former bus driver who has been charged with filling 16 vacancies at the firm's Kendal depot by April.

Despite the long odds, she's hoping someone in the unemployment lines will take up the challenge.

"It's a really enjoyable job because you're out and about," she says, highlighting perks like free travel for the driver's spouse and flexible overtime to boost pay.

And the Stagecoach crew do appear to be a content bunch. Sitting around the Kendal depot having a tea break before the school run, the drivers explained why they were happy with their lot.

"The only thing I take home with me at the end of the day is a dirty flask," says 49-year-old Dave Selby, who traded in a stressful management job in a hotel to become a driver 12 months ago. "I love the job because there's no hassle."

Former fire-fighter and fire-engine driver John Townley is equally satisfied. "I like driving," he

explains of the attraction, adding that he enjoys building a good rapport with his passengers. For him the job fitted the bill perfectly after he was forced to retire from the fire service

at 60.

One of the firm's few female drivers, Julie Scribbens, has been a bus driver for 24 years after a friend encouraged her to give it a try because she had done a stint driving vans in the Navy.

"It's just one of those jobs where no day is the same. I couldn't do the 9 to 5 with every weekend off. The shift system appeals to me more with days off in the week. It's not routine," she says.

Contrary to my expectations, the drivers don't have to be on the road at the crack of dawn every morning. They work a 44-hour basic week with variable hours from 6.30am at the earliest to 12.30am at the latest with an array of early, middle, late or split shifts. A trainee driver gets £4.60 an hour, a qualified minibus driver receives £5.12 then £5.83 on graduation to a big bus.

The training is thorough, with two weeks of instruction in the learner bus perfecting the art of driving smoothly and skills like pulling-in flush to the kerb and lining up bus doors to avoid lampposts. Anyone can become a bus driver as long as they are over 21 and hold a full UK driving licence with no more than three points. Applicants also have to pass a medical before they can train to get the Public Carrier Vehicle' licence.

Despite more than two decades on the buses, Julie is a keen advocate for her chosen vocation.

"If you want to get on with the public and if you've got a good sense of humour and like a varied day then I don't think you can go far wrong," she says.

Adding his encouragement, Kendal operations manager Trevor Pennington summed it up. "People come from all over the world to see this landscape and we have guys that drive through it every day and get paid for it."

January 16, 2003 12:00