'Lifeline' bus service withdrawn

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 26th Sep 2007

A Derby bus service for people with disabilities is to stop running because managers have said they cannot find enough volunteers to work as drivers. Bosses at Derby Community Transport (DCT) also said Dial-A-Ride was losing too much money. It will stop operating this Friday.

There will be a reduced city council service, only taking people to and from medical appointments. Many users insisted they regarded the old facility as a lifeline.

DCT chief executive Richard Jones said it had recently examined its non-subsidised operations after winning the city council's community bus service contract. "One of the biggest problems was the Dial-A-Ride service which we'd been running for many years and it was showing a very significant loss. As a charity I know we're not... supposed to make money but I can't afford for a charity to lose money as that affects the workings of everything else."

A new, reduced service will start on 1 October and will not take people on journeys such as going to the shops