A BUS company has apologised after a string of minibus break-downs left schoolchildren and the elderly from North Oxford waiting in the cold.

Residents have reported delays and cancelled buses along Stagecoach’s number 17 route, stretching back at least two weeks.

The service carries people from Cutteslowe to Summertown, then to Jericho and into the city centre.

But Jackson Road resident Yvonne Buck, 75, said she and her friends using it had recently felt “maddened” by the quality of service.

News
Our top stories

Mrs Buck uses the bus often to travel into the city centre for shopping.

The grandmother-of-one said: “We all feel like the route is being overlooked by the bus company. They have already cut the service down to just one an hour, but recently people I know aged 89 and 96 have been left waiting at bus stops in the cold.

“Everyone is fed up to their back teeth with it. If I could get around more easily I would get people to sign a petition.”

Buses she had been on board had broken down and some also did not have heating, Mrs Buck claimed. She said: “The buses are not reliable anymore and when I phoned Stagecoach I just got excuses.”

Jean Fooks, Oxfordshire County Council ward member for Wolvercote and Summertown, said the hourly service was a vital lifeline for some residents.

She said: “It is relied on by a lot of elderly people, as well as children needing to get to school.

“Those people are being let down and it is not on.”

Replacement buses were being brought in, Mrs Fooks said, but in some cases they were too big to get into areas such as Canal Street in Jericho and so stops were having to be missed altogether.

She added: “This is a subsidised service so the county council expects a good service.”

County council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said the authority was investigating.

He said: “The council can impose fines on Stagecoach.”

Stagecoach spokeswoman Karen Coventry said the problem had now been fixed and apologised to customers.

She said: “We have had an unfortunate number of technical issues with the minibuses operating on the 17 service over the last week.

“We would like to offer apologies to all customers inconvenienced by this and believe that the issues have now been overcome and service 17 will be operating normally.”


Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.