CHILDREN are being left stranded on their way to and from school because of a lack of available drivers.

Students and workers travelling between Colchester and Brightlingsea have seen a huge rise in the number of problems on the 87 service run by Hedingham since it was re-routed last month including massive delays and cancellations.

Dr Sue Sheppard’s 16-year-old daughter catches a bus to Colchester High School and said youngsters have even thought about clubbing together to share a taxi, or even hitchhiking.

She said: “When we moved here a year ago I was very impressed with the bus service.

“But since the changes the whole thing has been a shambles and the buses have just stopped turning up.

“They are meant to leave at 7.15am and after 45 minutes or so they all start ringing their parents – my daughter has been waiting for two hours before.

“Things are bad enough now, but will be even worse when the weather starts getting grotty.

“Last week I took her into school three days out of five, but sometimes I work away so it cannot happen all the time.

“Apparently they were talking about getting a taxi at one point – they should not have to do it – and some workers have been hitchhiking.”

County councillor for Brightlingsea Alan Goggin (Con) has arranged a meeting with the managing director of Hedingham’s parent company Go East Anglia.

He said: “It is horrendous and the problem we are told is a lack of drivers.

“There are kids who cannot get to school on time and people who cannot get to work, then the same people cannot get home at a reasonable hour.

“It is unacceptable but at least they are willing to meet and talk about what is wrong and have pledged to sort it out.”

A spokesman for Hedingham said: “We are aware there have been various delays and cancellations affecting Hedingham services during the last two weeks, particularly amongst those routes which operate from our Clacton depot.

“This difficult situation has been primarily caused by shortage of driving staff across the company, again particularly in the case of the Clacton depot.

“A new recruitment drive is underway in an effort to reduce the shortfall which currently exists, and in the shorter term we are also rewriting driver duties to reduce the number of drivers required on any given day.

“Where feasible supervisory and managers with public service vehicle licenses have been driving to minimise disruption.

“We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to everyone affected by the disruption, and appreciate your patience and support during this difficult time.

“We would encourage all affected customers to contact our office by sending an e-mail to services@hedingham.co.uk or phoning 01206 769778.