BUSES turning up late and breaking down have forced families in Wherwell to find alternative ways of getting their children to college after council cuts to services.

As previously reported by the Andover Advertiser, students travelling from Wherwell to Peter Symonds College in Winchester have been struggling to get to classes on time since Hampshire County Council cut the regular service.

The Stockbridge to Andover timetable was taken over by Wheelers from Stagecoach and reduced to two off-peak journeys a day.

To combat the problem, an additional route was agreed from Wherwell to Stockbridge and then Stockbridge to Winchester in term time only until May.

However, after only two weeks of using that service families in Wherwell decided to take matters into their own hands and take it in turns to drive their children into Andover to catch the Stagecoach service to Winchester.

Tamsin Hopgood, mother of student Alanna Mumford, said: “We tried for two weeks and there was only once that the connection worked or got there on time.

“My daughter sat on that bus three or four times and it pulled up as the other bus was driving away in Stockbridge.”

Mrs Hopgood said the lateness of the second bus caused her daughter to miss the Andover Stagecoach connection to Winchester, while on another occasion Alanna was left waiting in Winchester on a cold January night as the bus did not come.

The final straw came when Wheelers sent an employee in a car to get her to college when the bus had to attend to another broken down vehicle.

Mrs Hopgood added: “It was a really difficult thing because he was trying to be helpful but it wasn’t a very safe position for a young girl to be in.”

A spokesman for Wheelers Connect admitted that there were teething problems with the Stockbridge connection.

General manager Steve Barnett said: “We acted quickly to make this more reliable by putting regular drivers on both buses so that they could work together to ensure that the connection was made. HCC’s passenger transport unit is monitoring the situation, as they do with any major timetable alteration, and we will give them every assistance as they decide what to do with the longer term future for these services.”

HCC executive member for economy, transport and environment, Councillor Seán Woodward, said the council had listened to parents’ concerns by putting the service on as an interim measure and if demand is high enough it could be a viable service.