Littles Travel: Poor reliability on evening buses

[AY1975]

On a number of occasions in the last few months I have gone for the last bus on Littles Travel route 140 from South Wingfield to Alfreton in Derbyshire on a Saturday, and it has not turned up even though I got to the stop in South Wingfield in good time, so I've ended up walking all the way rather than paying for a taxi.

On one occasion I emailed Littles Travel and got a reply from their MD saying he would look into it and then get back to me, but I heard nothing more from him even though I sent him several reminders.

The last time that happened about two months ago, I sent Derbyshire County Council a letter with my completed Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket questionnaire, but again received no reply.

From the messages on Littles Travel's Facebook page, it would appear that the last bus of the day running early, or not turning up, is a regular occurrence, but both the management and Derbyshire CC seem to condone it.

As these services are run under contract to Derbyshire CC, I would have thought that the county council ought to take enforcement action against Littles Travel, as the company is surely in breach of its contract.

During the rest of the day I have generally found service 140/141/142 to be fairly reliable, though.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences with this service or other Littles Travel services?

 

[Busaholic]

On a number of occasions in the last few months I have gone for the last bus on Littles Travel route 140 from South Wingfield to Alfreton in Derbyshire on a Saturday, and it has not turned up even though I got to the stop in South Wingfield in good time, so I've ended up walking all the way rather than paying for a taxi.

On one occasion I emailed Littles Travel and got a reply from their MD saying he would look into it and then get back to me, but I heard nothing more from him even though I sent him several reminders.

The last time that happened about two months ago, I sent Derbyshire County Council a letter with my completed Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket questionnaire, but again received no reply.

From the messages on Littles Travel's Facebook page, it would appear that the last bus of the day running early, or not turning up, is a regular occurrence, but both the management and Derbyshire CC seem to condone it.

As these services are run under contract to Derbyshire CC, I would have thought that the county council ought to take enforcement action against Littles Travel, as the company is surely in breach of its contract.

During the rest of the day I have generally found service 140/141/142 to be fairly reliable, though.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences with this service or other Littles Travel services?

If you get no joy, get in touch with the Traffic Commissioner for your local area.

 

[PeterC]

Not a service that I have ever used but it is an issue that I have seen on a number of occasions over nearly 50 years. Last bus takes the bulk of traffic from the start point of the route so the driver just takes them home as quickly as possible and clocks off as early as possible.

 

[Mugby]

I'm surprised to hear that Derbyshire County Council seem to be indifferent to your problem because they normally have a good reputation in regard to public transport matters.

I'm less surprised to hear that Littles havn't replied to your e-mails because obviously they don't want to admit in writing that they are cancelling journeys on a contracted service.

I fully agree that the Traffic Commissioners are your best course of action, perhaps you could give Littles one more try and tell them this is what you intend to do if they don't respond.
If you are ignored again then don't hesitate to contact the Traffic Commissioners, I'm sure one of our members will supply the relevant address or contact details.

 

[GusB]

I'd give the company another chance to mend their ways. Mentioning "Traffic Commissioner" in any communication with them should be enough to give them a gentle shove in the right direction.

Contact details can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/traffic-commissioners/about/access-and-opening