Arriva Malta has 70 local drivers in training and the company is confident it will have reached full complement by the end of October, according to a company spokesman.

Recently, Arriva managing director Keith Bastow said the company needed about 100 drivers to have a fully locally-sourced staff. In fact, 70 drivers were seconded from the UK to make up for the exodus which occurred at the very start of theservice.

At one point, the company had 120 drivers from the UK on its books to make up for the shortage.

Mr Bastow had described recruitment as posing “significant challenges”, with the company planning to have an ongoing recruitment programme to be in a position to keep up staff levels.

Director Piers Marlow, however, did not exclude keeping some staff from the UK for a while after the end of October if that meant that the company would operate better.

One of the requirements of the new service is that drivers should be able to speak Maltese and English and have a clean bill of conduct.

The government has confirmed that Arriva Malta breached some clauses in its contract but penalties can only start being imposed from November.

One of the contract requirements is that buses should be air-conditioned. However, passengers have reported that refurbished low-floor buses which were used locally before the reform did not have functioning air-conditioning.

Arriva has 28 of the old low floor buses which it is in the process of refurbishing to meet Euro V emissions criteria and other criteria set by Transport Malta.

“The majority of these buses weren’t handed over to us until into July, so work is ongoing. Some of the buses have been put into service now to assist service delivery but work will continue to complete refurbishment and fit air conditioning, etc. to those that still need it. The buses have signs to inform passengers that the buses are part of the refurbishment programme and are waiting for upgrades to be completed,” a spokesman for Arriva told The Times.