A PENSIONER from Stanford-le-Hope has complained that a bus service is causing huge issues to bus users across the area.

Walter Edwards, 75, of Butts Road has said that during the past few weeks leading up to winter, he has waited up to 45 minutes to use the 100 bus service which operates between Chelmsford and Lakeside.

Mr Edwards feels that the service has become ineffective and despite its timetabled stops of every 15 minutes, sometimes buses are not even arriving at his nearest bus stop.

He said: “In the winter months, I like to call it the tomato ketchup service; you wait and shake for ages and then it all comes at once. The service has just got so much worse recently.

“I went to B&Q in Lakeside on Monday, the bus was supposed to arrive at 10.10am but it never did. I had to wait for the next bus to arrive, only to find that it was full of people.” Mr Edwards is concerned that the irregular bus service is meaning that space for passengers are becoming tighter.

He added: “You get it all the time, they sometimes do not turn up and then you will have two or three come at once.

“I understand they can take a while but why do they have to take so much time that three will arrive together?” The 100 service is run by First Bus Group put on services across the country.

Although Mr Edwards is not happy with the service from Chelmsford to Lakeside, he feels that the buses in other areas of the country are very effective. He said: “My wife and I just came back from Norfolk where the service was great.

“The drivers were very nice, they were helping people on and off the bus and they never seemed to be late.”

Following Mr Edwards’ complaints, a spokesman for First Bus Group, said: “As people will be aware, congestion is a major factor in affecting reliability at different times of the day and it is as frustrating for us trying to run a punctual bus service as it is for a person waiting at a bus stop for a bus to arrive.

“I can assure all people wanting to use our network of bus services that we do everything we can on a daily basis to deliver a punctual, reliable bus service for our customers”