FIRST Midland Red will run Worcester's new park-and-ride for the next five years.

The news comes at a time when the firm is so short-staffed that it has considered recruiting from the other side of the world.

The contract has been awarded by Worcestershire County Council with a warning that the troubled firm must stick to its terms or face penalties.

Purple and orange 55-seater buses are due to roll out of the Perdiswell terminus at 7am on Tuesday.

Fifteen drivers have been selected from a group of First Midland Red volunteers to work a shift system at Perdiswell.

"We've been assured by First Midland Red that the bus network in the rest of Worcester will not suffer as a result," said Mark Hudson, the county council's passenger transport manager.

"The contract includes standards for drivers and the vehicles, and there are penalty clauses for not meeting these."

The Evening News revealed this week that First Midland Red had shelved a job search in South Africa because of administrative problems.

Now the company intends to hire school-leavers to man its fleet.

Park-and-ride is Worcestershire County Council's brainchild, but the Perdiswell site only went ahead after a campaign of opposition by residents in the area.

Worcester City Council is backing the initiative, as are the City Centre Forum, and the CrownGate centre.