Bristol bus driver hand paints every colleague's flag

More than 90 flags have been painted - and Mr Hunt believes he will go beyond 100

A bus driver has put his artistic skills to the test by painting the national flags of every one of his colleagues - and there are nearly 100 of them.

Douglas Hunt decided to take on the challenge of representing all the staff at Bristol's Hartcliffe and Lawrence Hill depots in his spare time.

Mr Hunt, who is from Bristol, says he sometimes wakes up at 04:00 BST to begin painting.

"To me, I feel good. It is a feeling you cannot explain," he told the BBC.

Douglas Hunt says the feedback he has received makes him "very proud"

The flags at the First West of England depot cover countries from every continent, such as South Korea, Jamaica, Greece and Ghana, and each one represents a number of members of staff at the depots.

The project came after Mr Hunt discussed with managers how they could best acknowledge the different nationalities of First staff.

Posters explaining the idea were displayed in the depots and invited people to put their interest forward to have a flag of their country painted.

Mr Hunt said the response was "unbelievable" and First Bus realised painting each flag was the "right thing to do".

"We have got so many different drivers from different countries. We wanted to represent them," he said.

"We are all part of one big family."

Mr Hunt says he has been painting for decades and finds it "very relaxing"

Mr Hunt said he resumes the project when he cannot sleep and jokingly said: "I am a bit sad really."

But he added the paintings and the response had made him feel proud.

"A driver in the canteen came up to me during a break and asked 'did you paint those flags?', shook me by the hand and said 'thank you very much for putting my flag on the wall'," he said.

Laurence Binks, engagement partner for First West of England, said: "It has been really positive for us. The vision of how it would go, it is not what we expected.

"We expected it to be 'thank you', but actually it is more than that with other drivers' pride now.

"We have drivers and people from all over the world, and it is a challenge to represent them all.

"But this is a perfect visual representation that connects with everyone."

The paintings represent the flags of Mr Hunt's colleagues in the Lawrence Hill and Hartcliffe depots

Mr Hunt said he had been painting for decades and at school in Knowle, where he grew up, he "always had a pencil and paper, [was] always doodling".

He said he was self-taught and was always experimenting with paintings, adding more people should start painting if they felt stressed.

"I find it very relaxing," he said.

"You do not have to paint, you do not have to be an artist, you do not have to sketch or draw. Just paint something on paper and you will find you feel a lot better."

Mr Hunt also paints Bristol landmarks such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge, as well as hot air balloons

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