GHA Coaches: Passengers 'trapped' as bus firm collapses
A valley on the Shropshire border has been left without a bus service in the wake of the collapse of the GHA company.
Those without their own cars in the Ceiriog Valley, near Chirk, have been left stranded more than a week after the bus company went into administration.
Other bus companies have stepped in to run many of the routes across Shropshire and mid and north Wales.
But the daily bus service from Chirk to Glyn Ceiriog has, as yet, not been saved.
Villager Jools Payne said she knew of many people for whom the bus was their only means of transport.
She said: "I feel so sorry for the GHA staff who have lost their jobs.
"The loss of the bus service in the Ceiriog Valley is causing a great many problems for a lot of people – those trying to get back and to work and those who depend on the bus to travel through the valley to shop and to visit the towns.
"There are a lot of people, including the young and the old, who depend on the bus service."
Welsh Assembly minister Ken Skates said: "The news of the demise of GHA Coaches came as a huge blow for our area, with more than 300 people being told their jobs had gone and thousands more who relied on their buses at risk of being stranded.
"People in some of Clwyd South's most rural and isolated areas, places like Glyn Ceiriog and Penley, have been severely affected, and that is something that the council needs to address urgently. Some of my constituents are effectively trapped until alternatives are provided."
Wrexham County Borough Council said it was working with bus companies and neighbouring authorities in a bid to get important bus services back in areas currently without public transport.
Councillor David Bithell said: "We have had a number of calls from members of the public concerned that certain routes were no longer being serviced – particularly rural routes. Funding is limited and we're especially keen to focus on getting bus routes to those areas where there are currently no services at all."
