VILLAGERS have mounted a last ditch attempt to save a community service which is due to be terminated next month.

The 560 First Bus service, from Bury to Bolton, is to end on September 4. Operators claim the bus, which travels through Tottington, is under-used.

But Mrs Florence Hesten of Turton Road, part of the bus route, is a regular user of the service, and claims its loss would leave the community isolated.

She was joined in the village centre at the weekend by neighbour Mrs Barbara Beddows, as the pair drummed up support for her campaign to have the controversial decision reversed.

Mrs Hesten said: "If the service was to be taken away it would be a disaster for me and other people living in the community. We depend on the bus for our independence and social life." She said the other mode of public transport, the concessionary taxi service which serves parts of Ramsbottom and Tottington, would not be a satisfactory replacement.

"The taxi service excludes Bolton. Not only do we shop in Bolton, we need to travel there for medical and dental services and for library and cultural activities of various kinds. Also, since we lost our main-line station in Bury, we depend on Bolton for access to the national rail network."

Mrs Hesten has now presented a petition, signed by nearly 200 villagers, to Mr John Walsh, a member of the transport network committee for GMPTE.

He said: "A meeting will take place and I will ensure the PTE consider all the options available to them. The decision to withdraw the service is not irreversible.

"This is a unique bus service and if it is taken off there will no mode of public transport in this area. The PTE has emergency powers available which I will press to be used."

A spokesman for GMPTE said that the decision to withdraw the bus service was entirely the decision of First Bus, but the transport body was considering ways in which the service could be saved.