CONCERNS have been raised about Middlewich school children being left to stand for an hour or more in the cold and dark when buses fail stop for them.

The number 37 service, which links Crewe, Sandbach, Middlewich and Winsford, now runs just once an hour, and despite often running at full capacity during peak times, operator Arriva has only been putting single-decker buses on the route. 

One Middlewich resident says her daughter, who is a student at Sandbach Girls School, is often left stranded at the bus stop when going to and from school, forcing her to fall back on her retired grandparents to give her a lift, or wait a whole hour for the next service.

Arriva has since apologised and added it only has a limited number of double-decker buses in its fleet.

Single mother, Leah Gibson, who pays £14 every week for her daughter’s bus ticket, says she can’t understand why Arriva doesn’t increase capacity on the service at peak times by putting a double-decker bus on the route, rather than leaving children standing out in in the cold.

Leah said: “I just don’t understand why they aren’t using double-decker buses at the busiest times, especially on the school run. It just takes a little bit of common sense.

“The amount of double-deckers I’ve seen driving though Middlewich in the daytime empty, you wonder, why can’t they rearrange things a bit instead of leaving these kids to stand in the cold and dark?

“It’s not just impacting on my daughter. It’s impacting on me, and it’s impacting on my mum and dad who are retired.

“Just last week, my daughter had to go around and knock them out of bed to take her to school because the bus drove past her full.

“You pay £14 for a weekly ticket, and you’re not able to use it. I’m a single mum who is struggling anyway, and then I have to use my fuel to go and pick her up when I’ve already paid for a bus ticket.”

Leah says she knows families, who don’t have the luxury of a car to fall back on, that have been forced to keep their children off school.

The 39-year-old added: “I have a friend who has had to keep his son home from school more than once because he doesn’t drive, and three buses in a row have been either full or cancelled. It impacts on the child’s learning.”

A spokesman for Arriva said: “We apologise for the impact this has had on the customer.

“We have a very limited number of double decker buses available, and these are mainly utilised on our school services.

“We currently have a staff shortage which is impacting some of our services and Arriva is working on recruiting more drivers to support this.”