Save our buses - that's the plea from two villagers who claim they are almost cut off from civilisation on Sundays and evenings.

June Rayner and her mother Eva Dowson claim that Pool-in-Wharfedale residents face a three to four-hour round trip just to get into Leeds because there are no buses to take them directly into the city.

"We are cut off from Leeds unless we go into Otley at those times. You can't get to Golden Acre Park in summer without having to mess about. And if you want to catch a show in Leeds at night, you've had it," said Mrs Rayner.

"More patients are being moved from Wharfedale Hospital to Leeds - but it's a marathon just to visit them. We have to sit in a windy bus station for at least half an hour once we catch a bus from Pool - people just won't do it."

Mrs Rayner, 62, of Wharfe Crescent, said it was feared the current Bradford bus, which goes from Otley to Pool in the evening, was about to be cancelled because of poor customer numbers, but this has been denied by operators FirstBus.

"The ideal answer is to put every alternative X84 bus through Pool - it wouldn't lose much time on its journey and would give us a lifeline to other parts of Leeds," she added.

The Pool 20:20 community group claim that although the village is close to railway stations, many residents cannot reach them because of the poor bus service.

A spokesman for bus regulators Metro said that they would look into the problem, but urged Mrs Rayner to get in touch with them to discuss the matter further.

But she also said that Metro only had a certain amount of public money to spend and that priorities had to be made.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.