Latest travel innovation is bus that doesn't come back

Residents of a small market town are fuming after council cuts left them with no option but to take a one-way trip on the bus to nowhere. A service has been introduced for passengers travelling 12 miles by bus from Winterslow, Wiltshire, to Andover in neighbouring Hampshire.

But to save cash, council bosses have failed to put on a return service. Winterslow villager and regular bus user Anne Riggs said: “It is ridiculous. You get to Andover but then you find you cannot get back. A service should be provided so people can get back.”



It has occurred because Hampshire County Council decided to withdraw the 87 bus service in its austerity initiatives, but later agreed with service provider Stagecoach to run a subsidised one-way service from Salisbury to Andover. Stagecoach said Wiltshire Council refused to pay for the return journey because it was too expensive.

A Stagecoach spokesman said: “Wiltshire Council set the timetable. The route is totally subsidised by that council. There is a bus available to take them back from Andover at an economic price but that price is too much for Wiltshire Council.”