Arriva 'sincere' on improving Winsford's buses, councillor says

Cllr Malcolm Gaskill has been on the company’s case since his election onto Cheshire West and Chester Council last May.

The Liberal Democrat member for Swanlow says he has been given report after report from infuriated residents about Arriva buses being late, breaking down or simply not turning up.

But following a third report in the Guardian about the problem – which prompted dozens of Facebook comments from readers who had all been let down by the buses – Arriva bosses acted swiftly to meet with Cllr Gaskill and discuss his concerns.

He said: “Don’t let anyone tell you that Arriva management in the north west region are not concerned about the service they offer or the impact it has on their customers.

“Within hours of my latest report of bus cancellations, breakdowns and indifferent customer service having gone viral on Facebook, Arriva was asking me for an urgent meeting.”

Cllr Gaskill met with Phil Cummins, area managing director for the north west, Michael Morton, area managing director for north Wales, general manager Mark Wynne and staff member James Norton on Tuesday.

On reliability problems, he was told that some buses in Winsford were 17, 18 or 19 years old – older than allowed in Merseyside or Manchester, but there is no age limit imposed in Cheshire.

A shortage of drivers was given as a reason for a lack of service, although three more drivers have recently been recruited from Chester and a recruitment day took place at Winsford’s depot on Saturday.

Cllr Gaskill says he was also given a commitment to keep the Winsford depot open and protect jobs despite financial pressures caused by a cut in funding to local government, which subsidises some routes, while Arriva is also introducing a more efficient and personal system of dealing with complaints.

However, he says the company was ‘vague’ in trying to explain why an empty bus leaves Winsford train station at 7pm – just minutes before a train from Crewe arrives at 7.07pm.

Cllr Gaskill is now set to meet the Arriva team again about Winsford’s buses next month.

He added: “The directors admitted the depot had not been as well run as it should be and to remedy this, they decided that starting last week Mr Wynne will be based at the Winsford depot permanently.

“On leaving the meeting I had the impression Arriva was sincere in its desire to give the people of Winsford the bus service they need and deserve.

“We shall see. I am relying on the travelling public to keep me informed of any problems they come across whist using the Arriva service so I can raise them with the Arriva management team at our March meeting.”

Guardian readers spoke out on Facebook about the buses’ unreliability earlier this month.

Wayne Robinson said: “It’s a good job my boss understands how unreliable the buses are otherwise I’d have been sacked long ago.

“Bringing buses in from major towns and cities that have been run to death are not the answer – how some of these are passing MOTs is beyond me.”

Natalie Ray added: “Atrocious. Always late, and at least three buses a week don’t even turn up at all, leaving people stranded in the cold, horrid weather.

“I’ve been relying on buses for work for nearly three years and I have witnessed it decline year after year.”

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Mr Cummins told the Guardian earlier this month: “We are aware of the issues currently surrounding our Winsford routes and we are working towards resolving these to minimise the impact on our customers in the future.”

To report issues to Cllr Gaskill, who will feed back concerns to Arriva next month, email mg@malcolmgaskill.com