HUNDREDS of Sabden residents are expected to gather outside County Hall tomorrow to protest about the loss of the village's public transport.

The Ribble Valley area has been left isolated for several weeks after its only service, the number 27, was cancelled.

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Residents are now having to find other means of getting on with their daily routines to accommodate the loss.

The loss of service was partly down to cuts by the County Council because of a need to save £200million by 2021, together with a decision by bus company Transdev to cease some services for commercial reasons.

Overall the county council has been forced to slash subsidies for rural and loss-making services.

One of those affected is June Weaving, 76, who everyday visits her husband Clive, 70, who suffers from a rare brain disease, at the Croft Rest Home in Whalley.

Mrs Weaving now relies on friends to take her to see her husband and she said she feels trapped in the village.

She said: “It upsets me and Clive a lot. I feel like I am abandoning him and it’s horrible because it’s extremely hard to get to Whalley.

“I go to feed him at the home at about noon, and I have been doing this for a long time.

“To visit I have to rely on other people and I don’t want to be doing that, I don’t want to feel like a burden to others.

“We’ve been together for more than 50 years and I’m not giving up on him now.”

Sabden resident, Lesley Homes, 47, now has to take her son William, 16, to Burnley College by car since the bus was cancelled.

But Mrs Homes’ youngest son, George, 14, is wheelchair bound and needs constant care.

The Sabden mum has said it’s become extremely difficult juggling taking her oldest son to college and looking after her other son.

She said: “It’s very upsetting and frustrating, I am trying to do my best for both of my sons.

“William deserves every right to go to college but I have to juggle picking him up and dropping him off, it’s very difficult.

“I can’t have him walking home on his own in the winter when the roads out of the village have no paths, no light and are not gritted.

“He’s at an age when he wants to become more independent and he doesn’t want have to rely on me to pick him up.”

The protest will take place in Preston at around 1.30pm.

Previously a spokesman for Lancashire County Council told the Lancashire Telegraph: “We have considered the impact of the changes being made by Transdev to its commercial bus network in east Lancashire and looked at the options for providing a link to Sabden and Read.


“The decision taken by the cabinet member for highways and transport is that the council’s very difficult financial position means it is not possible to replace what was a commercial bus service with one supported by the county council.”
Alex Hornby CEO for Transdev also previously said: “We have worked very hard over many years to maintain a link with Sabden, however we were seeing customer numbers of less than two per journey. Unfortunately, this obviously makes the service unviable.”