SINGAPORE - Bus operator Tower Transit said it "inadvertently" hired more bus captains than it had openings for as part of its recruitment activities in the two months between December last year and January this year (2017).

Six people had already signed employment contracts with the Anglo-Australian firm when they were told that the offers were being rescinded.

One affected bus captain was informed by e-mail just two weeks before he was due to start work this month (February) that the company had reached "full staff capacity" and was "unable to proceed" with its job offer.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said the recruitment drive was "misleading" and that those who had left their jobs after getting the offer were "left stranded and distressed".

In response to queries from The Straits Times a Tower Transit spokesman said the firm has since tried to help the affected parties.

"It's a situation that has caused them distress, and we're doing everything we can, including direct referrals to other organisations, to help them find similar positions," he said, adding that only three had responded to the offer.

Tower Transit became the third public bus operator here when it clinched the Bulim bus package - with a bid of $556 million for five years - in 2015. It began running 26 bus services in western Singapore in the middle of last year (2016).