A COUNTY councillor has revealed he has been beset with “horror stories” from local residents left stranded by cancellations on vital bus services – sometimes without any notice given.

Cllr Gordon Stewart said there had been a number of “last minute” cancellations on the Tyne Valley 10 service that runs between Hexham and Newcastle.

Cllr Stewart, who represents the Prudhoe South ward on Northumberland County Council, pointed out that operator Go North East had already reduced services and increased prices, and added that there was “far too much disruption” for residents.

He reported that passengers had been “stranded” late at night or in the morning due to very late cancellations, sometimes with “no notification” to passengers.

Cllr Stewart said: "These are serious matters impacting upon residents wishing to travel on what are major bus routes, people are fearful for their jobs and livelihoods.

"I also have concerns about residents' welfare being stranded and walking long distances alone late at night or during the early mornings. I appreciate the company is trying to recruit additional drivers but these matters are too serious to wait and ask that interim measures are put in place to support their customers such as providing mini bus transport.

"I am also being informed that not all cancellations are being placed on the operators’ website."

One resident told Cllr Stewart she was afraid she would lose her Newcastle-based job as she cannot be assured of arriving on time, while another had to get a different bus to the village of Horsley and walk the remaining five miles to Prudhoe.

Cllr Stewart said he had met with senior officials from Go North East along with representatives from the office of Hexham MP Guy Opperman.

Go North East has been issuing “short notice journey cancellations” due to a national bus driver shortage since last September. The company say higher levels of sickness absence is also haivng an impact.

It provides a list of these cancellations on its website, which is updated on a daily basis. An enhanced pay rate has also been offered to drivers, meaning they earn £26,019 a year before overtime.

Responding to Cllr Stewart’s concerns, a spokesman for Go North East said: "Through customer feedback and our own internal monitoring, we have become aware of reliability issues on the service 10 and we are acting quickly to resolve this.

"As a result, we have changes for the 10 cluster of routes planned in January to help alleviate some of these issues. The majority of service reductions were a by-product of a large driver recruitment gap earlier in the year, following reducing the service level we invested heavily in recruitment, and we are now seeing the gap close.

"We want customers to tell us about services that are not performing well enough, and we have a dedicated customer service support line to help with this. Regarding late cancellations, we post our cancellations list online via social media and our website daily. Our app can also be used for real time information on our services."