RESIDENTS have handed in a petition calling for a bus service to be reinstated after they were left ‘stranded on Mount Everest’.

Residents of Blackburn's Wimberley Street and surrounding areas have been unhappy since the bus serving the area stopped at the end of last year.

Council bosses said they have received the 106 signature petition and they will be looking into the complaints.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Marlene Dewhurst, 69, from Aberdare Close, said: “It’s been disastrous for us all.

“It’s like trying to go up and down a ski slope.

“Sometimes people are having to get taxi four or five times a day.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,"

Resident Ashfila Kahn, 64, said: “It’s like climbing Mount Everest

“There are lots of people with bus passes but they’ve got no buses to use them on.

“It’s a big problem and it’s making life hard for a lot of the residents.”

Wimberley Street used to have two bus services, the 155 ran by M and M coaches and the number 10 ran by Darwen Coach services. Both providers have since ceased trading.

Neighbour James Altimas, 87, said: “I’m living with arthritis and it’s a nightmare trying to get around."

Edna Bullen said: “Some of the people literally can’t make it up the hill now the bus has gone."

Council bosses said they will meet with service providers to see if some of the existing bus routes can be altered to serve the residents.

Cllr Phil Riley, executive member for regeneration, said: “We are aware that the residents of Wimberley Street have not been directly served by a local bus service since the autumn of 2016.

“This service is 100 per cent commercial with no direct subsidy from the council and ultimately the decision on the routing of the service is down to the operator.

“The council’s is not able to provide funding for subsidised routes and extensions to commercial routes as available previously, given ongoing cuts to funding.”