Unreliable bus services are leaving a small Wharfedale village cut off and isolated, it has been claimed.

Councillor Graham Kirkland (Otley & Wharfedale, Lib Dem) said he has received many complaints that buses to and from Pool-in-Wharfedale are unreliable and the lifeline bus service lacks credibility.

His complaints come after the morning X82 service missed three times in one week.

Coun Kirkland said: "It apparently happened once because it had broken down, once because the driver had gone the wrong way and finally because it was quite a few minutes late and by that time its credibility had gone.

"My fellow councillors and I work hard to encourage public transport use, the Government and local authorities spend many millions on existing and proposed public transport and yet we are constantly let down by unreliability where it counts at the bus stop.

"The people of Pool deserve better. Residents get very angry and cold and wet waiting for buses that never come."

Coun Kirkland claimed elderly people do not want to live in Pool because of the poor bus service.

He added: "Their sole means of getting to the doctors, the big shops and leisure is unreliable.

He said Wharfedale Court, top-quality flats for the elderly, were very difficult to let. Up to six out of 32 flats had been empty for a very long time and the commonest reason for not accepting a tenancy was unreliable public transport."

Councillor Mick Lyons, chairman of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, said he had contacted the traffic manager at First Leeds, the company which runs the X82 service.

Coun Lyons said: "He acknowledges that this is totally unacceptable and states that every effort has been made since then to ensure that this journey operates on schedule.''

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