Sanders Must Sharpen Up Their Act, Says Lamb

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 17th Sep 2003

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, has urged Sanders Coaches to improve their standards of service after recent complaints.

Many people have visited Mr Lamb's office to raise their concerns and express some confusion over the recently-altered Sanders timetables between North Walsham and Norwich. Some people have said that the timings for the 5 and 35 services have altered again since they were first published only recently, and that the timetables available on the buses themselves differ from those published by the County Council!

Other complaints include:

· Those of Mrs Pawley, whose disabled daughter has experienced disruption on the Mundesley-Cromer route, causing her to miss several hours of work.

· Problems with unreliability on the 34 service, and the lack of information provided by Sanders when they were telephoned by a passenger who wanted to find out what was happening.

· The Head of Cromer High School reporting serious problems with reliability, for example on 16 September when a Sanders bus turned up at the school one hour and ten minutes late.

"Of course, I am aware of the serious financial pressures that local bus operators are under," said Norman Lamb.

"The Government needs to deal with this. However, the sort of reports I have been receiving are also about issues which have little to do with the lack of funding. In particular, this is not the first time I have heard from people with serious concerns about how Sanders deal with telephone enquiries."

"Local bus companies need to ensure that information about their services is widely available and clearly presented, and that reliability is maintained. When it isn't, people are put off using public transport."