AN 80-year-old woman from Andover who doesn't drive has been left frustrated after Stagecoach repeatedly cancel buses, leaving her with no way to travel.

The woman, who does not wish to be named, contacted the Advertiser in the hopes of finding out whether other people in the area are also suffering from delayed or cancelled buses in Andover town centre. 

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On October 6, she tried to catch the Route 1 bus, which she says was cancelled three times with no warning. 

She said: "There is no consideration whatsoever for people who have no other way of travelling if the buses don't run. Delays and cancellations did improve but they have got a lot worse recently.

"I don't see it getting better for a while because they don't have enough bus drivers."

A Stagecoach spokesperson said: "We are continuing to run a reliable half-hourly bus service throughout the day from Salisbury, through Tidworth, to Andover to ensure our customers can stay connected to education, work, for shopping and other leisure activities. 

"Driver shortages are continuing to impact the bus and coach sector right across the UK and based on the resource we have available, we have had to make some short-term changes to our services, which mean that the additional frequency between Tidworth and Andover is currently not fully running."

Stagecoach added that it is working hard to recruit more drivers and promote driver jobs at job centres, and recruitment events, and are also making timetable changes in late October to help deliver a more reliable service during winter.

In addition, they hope to run extra buses as soon as they can next year.

Hampshire County Council's executive lead member for transport and environment strategy Cllr Edward Heron said: “We are sorry to hear about this particular experience of bus use in the Andover area. Decisions to withdraw, reduce or cancel services are taken by bus operators, independently of local authorities, and are not taken lightly. Operators both across Hampshire, and nationally, are experiencing an acute shortage of drivers, exacerbated by increasing operating costs (fuel, wages, utilities). This is resulting in many bus operators being unable to maintain services as fully as they would like.

“We fully understand the challenges, but with no additional national funding being made available to us to assist, the support we can provide is extremely limited at this time.”