Shoppers are stranded as bus is sent to cover a Burton route

ANGRY bus passengers in Uttoxeter claim they were left stranded after a town circular service was diverted on to another route.

The service – operated by Arriva – had been due to pick up passengers from Uttoxeter bus station on Bradley Street at 11.35am on Monday.

Passengers say the bus arrived at the station on route from Town Meadows Way and was expected to take them on to their destinations.

However one of the waiting passengers, Melvyn Howes, aged 68, of Bentley Road, claimed the bus stopped, changed drivers and was then dispatched to Burton.

The retired British Rail worker said he was told by one of the drivers that a bus had broken down and the town circular was needed to operate the service to Burton.

He complained: "He said the bus had broken down and was no longer in service, so they were using the town circular.

"We are being treated like third class citizens. I had to get a taxi home which cost £4.50 and I will be claiming it back from Arriva."

He claimed 15 to 20 passengers were queuing for the town circular and that he needed to get shopping home.

Suzanne Dionne, aged 48, of Lightfoot Road, Uttoxeter, was another passenger left stranded. She claimed around £8 worth of ice cream and lollies she had bought had melted in the heat and that she intended to claim the cost from Arriva.

Mrs Dionne, whose 56-year-old husband, Paul, used to work for Stevensons bus company, who were replaced by Arriva, complained: "I was fuming. This has happened before.

"We have buses not turning up. You get fed up with the way you are treated. It's all wrong."

A spokesman for Arriva confirmed that a bus operating a service to Burton had broken down and it was decided to use the town circular on that route to avoid passengers being stranded in rural locations.

He said the next town circular picked up passengers half an hour later.

He said: "We can only apologise. There was a vehicle that had broken down and we decided to use the town circular bus on the Burton route to avoid passengers being left stranded in rural locations.

"Otherwise there would have been a two hour gap on the service to Burton.

"There was going to be another town circular within half an hour, so it was decided that the best remedy was to use the bus to go to Burton."

He said anyone unhappy with the service could write to Arriva and their complaints would be considered.