Fare Dinkum: Big Bonuses For Oz Bus Workers

Workers at an Australian bus company could not believe their luck when their generous boss handed out AU$16m (£10.5m) in bonuses as a 'thank you' gift.

The lucky staff from the family-run firm were apparently so shocked some telephoned their banks to check a mistake had not been made.

The 1,800 employees at Melbourne-based Grenda Corp have received bonuses averaging more than AU$8,300 (£5,500) and as much as AU$30,000 (£20,000).

They were handed the money after the Grenda family sold the 66-year-old business for AU$400m (£270m), the Herald Sun newspaper reported.

Boss Ken Grenda said recent publicity about huge chief executive payouts was one of the reasons he wanted to give away some of his firm's profits.

"I get totally dismayed when you see some of the salaries the CEOs get paid," he told radio station 3AW.

"It is far beyond what somebody is worth."

He added: "You only get to where you are by having great people - and we have fantastic people. They are absolutely stoked. There were lots of tears."

Ken's son, chief executive Geoff Grenda, described the gratitude of staff - one of whom had been with the company for 52 years - as "overwhelming."

"We sat down and thought, 'How can we thank the people that have got us to where we're going to end up?' and it was a fairly easy decision for us," he told Nine Network television, referring to his father and brother Scott.

"We've had lots of loyal people over our 66-year journey and this was our way of rewarding the ones that are still with us."

Grenda's staff will keep their jobs under the new owner.

The company was set up in 1945, growing from humble beginnings to now providing 25% of Melbourne's public transport.

One bus driver told the Herald Sun: "Good bosses are hard to find and Ken was a very good boss - one of a kind."