North Northamptonshire villages 'in danger of being stranded' as bus services set to be cancelled

Two bus services that run through a number of north Northamptonshire villages are set to be cancelled next month.

Bus and coach operator Whippet have been forced to cancel their X3 and 8 services that run through Corby, Little Stanion, Stanion, Brigstock, Thrapston, Geddington, Kettering and Huntingdon.

If these bus services are cancelled Little Stanion, Stanion, Brigstock and Geddington will be left with no option for buses.

Cllr John Padwick, of Geddington Parish Council, said: “We’re in real danger of being isolated and really stranded in the villages.

“There are people in the villages who are older, who can’t drive cars or who’ve got disabilities and they’re very much dependent on local bus services.

"It doesn’t really matter if it’s not every hour, as long as there’s something they can rely on and then they can actually organise their day around it.

“It’s a real crisis.”

Whippet has been forced to cancel the bus service due to funding issues.

Gary Forbes-Burns, commercial manager at Whippet said: “We don’t want to leave communities unserved. We don’t get into the industry, certainly the folk I work with, haven’t got into the industry to make money. We’re here to provide services to the communities we serve, rather than anything else but unfortunately if we’re losing a considerable amount of money every week, we just simply cannot continue."

According to Whippet have tried to contact North Northamptonshire Council on multiple occasions to try and sort out the issue but they said they’ve heard had nothing back. They say they’ve tried phoning, sending emails, and have even sent a registered letter but so far they’ve had no response.

Gary said: “I’m quite happy to actually talk to someone to try and save these services but nobody wants to talk to me so I can’t actually continue running them.

“It’s not too late yet, if we had a conversation and we could come to a number where we weren’t losing money, I can probably make it work. It doesn’t even necessarily have to make a profit, it’s just more, does it actually not cost money to run it.

“There’s been absolutely no discussion, that’s what’s driving me insane about it because I don’t want to leave people without a bus service.

“I don’t know what the plan is because there’s been no discussion about how people in say Stanion, Brigstock and Geddington are going to get around once these bus services are no longer there. There’s not a huge number of people using them but there are people using them and that worries me because I don’t want to leave people at the side of the road with no bus service.

“I’ve been in the industry for 25 years and I’ve never been in this position before. I’ve had some strenuous discussions with local authorities before, there’s sometimes been a lot of mudslinging even, but I’ve never been in a position where it’s a wall of silence.

“Even if I got an email saying ‘we’re dreadfully understaffed but we’re aware of the situation and we hope to get back to you at some point’ I could live with that but just to get absolutely nothing…”

North Northants Council has been contacted for comment but is yet to respond.