Bosses at London Underground (LU) are struggling to recruit skilled engineering staff in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, despite a drive to reduce their heavy reliance on agency staff.

Many UK employers are finding it tough to source skilled engineers for both contract and permanent positions before the Games, but LU seems to be suffering particular difficulties.

Julian Doughty, senior HR business manager at LU's Engineering Directorate, says that just 96 staff from a total of 175 in the department are permanent employees.

“At the moment about 60% of our engineering directorate staff are non-permanent. We're planning to reduce this by 50%,” he said. “We've managed to increase the number of permanent workers in the directorate from 72 in May to 96 now.

“However, we still need 94 permanent posts filled and although we're UK-based at the moment, we may need to go overseas.”

Nathalie Leburn, a consultant at AndersElite, one of five major recruiting firms working for the LU Engineering Directorate, said the shortage was a real problem for employers.

“There's a major push on to find project managers and engineers across the board - especially at middle management level,” she said. “The market is very tight for good people and skills are scarce. With the Olympics approaching there will definitely be a shortage, and we're asking ourselves where are we going to get them from.”

Christine Thompson, a director at transport specialist Tek Personnel Consultants, says engineers are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to pin down.

“There are fewer trained engineers around and they're much more choosy about who they work for,” she said. “This is where a good consultant with excellent experience and skills is invaluable in helping to network them and persuade them into a job.”