LABOUR'S Parliamentary candidate for Crewe and Nantwich David Williams, has condemned a decision by a bus company to close a local depot as 'short-sighted'.

Mr Williams is a former bus driver for PMT, the predecessor of First Bus in Crewe.

He said: "I am appalled at the action of First Bus to pull out of Crewe.

"The company appears to be seeking to save on garaging costs by making employees pay additional travelling costs.

"This would be a disgraceful imposition on the drivers who may well be threatened with redundancy if they do not accept the move to Newcastle, as has happened before.

"First Bus has said that they were unable to guarantee that there will be no redundancies as a result of their switch from Crewe to Newcastle.

"Workers will now have to commute from Crewe to Newcastle which will cost them in both time and money.

"There also has to be questions asked about the impact on the environment and congestion, because this decision by the bus company must surely lead to more 'out of service' miles travelled and will force their staff into cars to travel to and from work.

“I am calling on Cheshire East Council to review any assistance or subsidy that First Bus receives in the light of them abandoning Crewe.

“I fully back the drivers and support staff at the Crewe depot and I am contacting Unite the Union to offer my help.”

Some 40 drivers, supervisors and engineers will be affected by the decision to close the Crewe depot on December 19.