Councillor calls for action on 'shambles' bus service that is vital link to hospital

Health campaigner and councillor Alex Wagner has complained to Arriva over bus cancellations.

Councillor Wagner wrote to the company back in August to complain of the reduced reliability, but is now demanding action from senior officials over complaints that residents trying to get to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are being left without a service.

He has received nearly 20 complaints from residents over the last week that the number 11 bus, which runs from Gains Park to Shrewsbury Town Centre via the hospital, is not running for hours at a time.

Councillor Wagner, who is Liberal Democrat councillor for Bowbrook, said: “The number 11 service is a vital link for hundreds accessing NHS care every month, yet seems to have fallen to such a poor service level that it can’t be relied on.

“For one 82-year-old resident who rang me up, the number 11 not running for two hours last week meant she was unable to get to an important hip operation check-up at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. There was no warning of this or recourse, just a long wait at a cold bus shelter.

"People in this town should be able to get to work, get to NHS appointments and get home without the stress and strain of a service not turning up. I want to meet with senior staff at Arriva and to work with them on fixing this.”

"We cannot keep having patients and residents unable to get home or get to hospital appointments. Frankly, as it stands, the service is a shambles and is letting people down."

A spokesman for Arriva said: "The issues experienced with this service are unfortunately directly linked to ongoing driver shortages. We have a highly targeted recruitment campaign underway in the region to address this and we’re welcoming new drivers into Arriva on a weekly basis.

"Our Shrewsbury depot general manager, Jack Grove, would like to extend an open invitation to Councillor Wagner to speak directly on this."