BUS delays around Newton Abbot that have left some passengers waiting for up to two hours for a number 77 bus have been slated by a town councillor.

Cllr Mike Ryan has taken issue with Stagecoach over a service that he has described as ‘not good enough’.

‘The buses are supposed to be running every half an hour but we’ve had families with children and prams and elderly people waiting for nearly two hours.’

The number 77 bus route takes in Hele Park, Sherborne Road, the Railway Station and Buckland.

Asked if there might be a problem with shortage of drivers, Cllr Ryan said: ‘There is never a problem with the Torquay buses and they have them every 10 minutes. We are always having problems with our local buses, it just isn’t good enough.’

He was full of praise for one local driver, Paul Brown, who he said had added an extra round on his route to ensure people got home.

‘He was marvellous and people greatly appreciated the extra effort as some of them had been waiting ages for a bus.

‘This comes at a time we have the likes of the Government and council leaders asking people to use more public transport.’

‘When they (Stagecoach) have problems they should have some way of letting people know how long they will have to wait but the electric signs were blank about this.’

A Stagecoach spokesperson said ‘We are unfortunately experiencing disruptions to our network at the moment due to issues with staff availability.

‘Many other sectors in the market are suffering with this also.

‘We apologise to our staff and customers for the issues experienced at the moment, we are working hard to resolve this as soon as we possibly can.

‘Our app and website have latest daily information on service disruption, so please check the live updates before they travel.’