27th January 2012

SOUTH SOMERSET: Villagers fear losing their bus service

By Marion Draper

MANY residents of Merriott and Hinton St George and Seavington are living in fear of isolation at the announcement that they may be about to lose their vital bus service which links them to Crewkerne, Ilminster and South Petherton.

Last Friday David Laws MP met with locals and councillors to receive a petition and hear their complaints against bus service cuts being imposed by Somerset County Council.

Many villagers had not even known about the proposed cut until regular bus user Mary Dalton put a sign on the noticeboard after she read the notice on the bus. Mary, who suffers with ME, relies on the service and was shocked to see the notice, which stated people had until January 13th to submit comments. She immediately posted petitions around the village and took one on the bus with her. She said: “I would be completely housebound without the bus service, I use it to shop in Ilminster because the Co-op here is expensive and very limited and I need it to get to the doctors. I am terrified of becoming a prisoner in my own home.”

Fellow villager Carol Palmer was also very worried. She said: “I am a widow and pensioner on my own and I volunteer in the Red Cross shop in Crewkerne three mornings a week. It keeps me sane, I don’t know what I’d do if they take the bus away. It’s too far to walk and taxis are too expensive, I use the bus most days.”

Residents Edward and Kay Robinson were supporting the petition, even though they seldom use the service at present. They commented: “You have got to think ahead, we are still driving at the moment but there will come a time when we have to give up the car and there are many retired people in our position. As you get older you rely on these things, suddenly we are vulnerable.

“We only found out about it because someone put a notice up, there was nothing from the council.”

Villager Wendy Brown was incensed. She said: “There has always been a bus service in Merriott, it’s the rich looking after the rich and the people who made this country are being forgotten. How would you like to sit in your house day in day out? I use it every day to get to Crewkerne, I would be isolated in my own home.

Mr Laws called on Somerset County Council to secure the future of school bus transport serving the village of Merriott. He said cuts to this service would mean working parents who were unable to take children to school themselves facing the daunting prospect of them walking along unsafe, busy roads to get to school.

The council previously tried to axe free transport in 2011, but withdrew the proposal after opposition residents backed by Mr Laws and Councillor Paul Maxwell.

PICTURE: SAVE OUR BUSES - Merriott villagers, councillors and MP David Laws with the petition

SOUTH SOMERSET: Villagers fear losing their bus service

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