15138/1Slovakian immigrant Peter Rutkovsky has trebled his wages since he quit teaching and came to Malmesbury by working as a dishwasher.

University graduate and professional ice-hockey player Mr Rutkovsky, 26, worked as a programme director of a children's camp in the former communist country.

But fed-up with earning £200 a month there, he found a job as a dishwasher in The Old Bell Hotel in Malmesbury in November last year, where he earns about £650 a month. He sends a third of his wages home to help his family.

He said: "I enjoyed my work in Slovakia but I did not have enough money for my own car or flat. The wages are very bad there. I wanted to work in Europe, but the work laws are very strict in Germany and Austria. However, in the UK it is possible to work and everything is okay. I found my job here at the hotel through a work agency in Slovakia."

His girlfriend, Danka, a former primary school teacher, will soon join the hotel as a housekeeper.