PUBLIC transport group Arriva aims to recoup about £30m on fuel charges.

The bus and trains operator, which provides more than 70% of Merseyside bus services, faces up to £60m in extra fuel costs for the current year.

But in a trading update today it revealed a fuel price fixing policy will enable it to recover about £30m in fuel costs for 2010.

The UK bus division continued to trade strongly in the five months to the end of May, the group said.

Revenues have risen 5.2% and mileage was cut back by 3.3% to control costs.

Arriva announced in February this year that it will spend £28m on 199 new buses to improve its Merseyside fleet.

Revenues also rose in both UK train franchises covering Wales and Crosscountry services, by 8.7% and 2.4%, respectively.

But the Sunderland-based group warned today that the rate of growth has eased, reflecting the UK’s difficult economic circumstances.

However, mainland Europe operations achieved a 10.4% growth in revenues, including 6.7% from acquisitions during the year, excluding exchange rate fluctuations.

Chief executive David Martin said: “Arriva’s strategy continues to provide the group with a high degree of stability and resilience in a difficult econonomic climate and I remain confident the group will continue to demonstrate the delivery of long term value to shareholders.”