A BLIND woman was left stranded in Redditch for an hour following a major review of subsidised bus services covered by Worcestershire County Council.

Gemma Carrington, 35, of Rangeworthy Close who travels on the 55 and 56 buses ran by Diamond with her guide dog, was unaware that the service had been reduced in frequency when she made her outward journey from Walkwood to Redditch Bus Station on Monday, September 1.

She said: “I got extremely annoyed that they had cut the service without notifying anyone. It seemed that they had taken buses which I saw an important to put on other buses which already came every 10 to 15 minutes.”

The service has been reduced in frequency with an hourly service to Alexandra Hospital and Tesco supermarket, routes have also been extended to serve Webheath.

Gemma added: “Now my six-year-old daughter will suffer because she can’t go to rainbows. It is going to be very difficult this will result in a longer travel which will probably result in me having to take her out of school earlier.

“Swimming lessons, hospital, I can’t go to the supermarket easily. I worked it out- I will have 15 minutes or 1 hour 15 minutes to do my shopping, my food will probably be defrosted.

“I like to get out and about to the supermarket and I am trying to get some work experience but I won’t be able to do that without help because the times of the bus.

“I can’t go and do my food shop by myself because it takes so long and I can’t take my daughter swimming because it will take three hours to go for a half hour swim. It’s my daughter I feel sorry for because it is her losing out.”

In a bid to save the tax payer £1.6 million a year, many subsidised bus services across the county were reduced or removed. It is now up to the individual bus companies to decide whether or not to continue running the services.

The council did make announcements regarding the changes on BBC Hereford and Worcestershire and Free Radio and audio versions of local newspapers were available, but the message did not reach Gemma.

Stephen Haselden, strategic development manager for Rotala PLC which Diamond Bus is part of, said: “From early this morning (Monday) and tomorrow morning (Tuesday) I and other members of the commercial team are based at the bus station to provide information to passengers, answer any questions and help to direct people to the right services.

“We have spoken to many people today and explained that we hope to get timetables tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for the passengers; who are welcome to come and see us to get a copy.

“Full timetable booklets will be available soon.

“If other formats are required, passengers are requested to call us and we will assist as best as we can.”

For details on all services including those which have changed visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables. To contact Diamond Bus Company call 0121 322 2222.