PASSENGERS who have been left angry and disappointed at poor bus services in the Wellington area are being urged to speak out about it.

Wellington Town Council is stepping up a campaign to try and improve the services between Wellington and Taunton which in recent weeks have been described as “woefully inadequate.”

But councillors know the more evidence they have the stronger their case will be when they get the opportunity to put their concerns to First Bus bosses.

Cllr Keith Wheatley, speaking at the council’s policy and finance committee on January 13, said: “The council has taken a good role in this and we’re hearing lots of grievances from people.

“But we shouldn’t let the momentum slide away – we need a meeting with First Bus at the earliest opportunity.”

Cllr Catherine Govier said it was important they got “specific evidence” together to back up their claims.

Cllr Mark Lithgow suggested that council officers went out and spoke to bus passengers face-to-face.

“Perhaps we should get the officers to stand at the bus stops with a clipboard and get comments from people,” he said.

Cllr Justin Cole said that it might be better to get an independent organisation to collate data from bus-users on behalf of the council.

Cllr John Thorne said: “I’m sure we will be overwhelmed with evidence from people.”

Councillors spoke of their need to have a meeting with First Bus commercial director James Eustace as quickly as possible and to see if local Liberal Democrat MP Gideon Amos could also attend as he had also shown concerns about the ongoing bus problems.

Cllr Wheatley said that if they wanted to get proper statistical information about bus cancellations and other details they could perhaps look at submitting a Freedom of Information request to First Bus.