Elections 2021: Axing of 'lifeline' Derby bus service 'is heartrending'

People who live along the route of a "lifeline" bus service say they have been left feeling stranded by its closure.

Greg Gaskin, 75, has a bus stop outside his home in Darley Abbey, Derby, but after the 17/17A service was scrapped, he now has to walk up a hill to catch a different bus.

"[I've had] two knee replacements, ankle screwed together, sepsis and I've still got to climb up the hill," he said.

Maggie Moloney, 68, who lives in the Leylands Estate near Darley Abbey, said: "The bus is so important to so many people."

Stuart Frost, the manager of Notts and Derby Buses, which ran the service, said the £9,000 it received from the council each year was "nowhere near" the amount needed to continue operating it.

A spokesperson for Derby City Council said: "The council did request funding from the Department for Transport, specifically to support the 17/17A but with many similar requests from around the country, there is not enough funding locally or centrally to support every service."

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Video journalist: Alex Thorp

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