BUS passengers are angry after the Burnley Wood estate has been left without a regular service for the first time since the Second World War.

More than 100 letters of complaint have been collected by staff at Burnley Wood Community Centre, amid claims residents have been cast adrift by wholesale bus changes in East Lancashire.

Bus operator Transdev had run the number eight service for a number of years, which connects the estate with Burnley town centre in one direction and Bacup in the other, before it was withdrawn at the start of May.

Rivals at Haslingden-based Rosso stepped in to extend their 463 route to Burnley via Weir - but removed the entire section travelling through Burnley Wood itself.

Seventy-nine-year-old Sylvia Marsden, speaking on behalf of Hufling Lane area residents, said: "People have go to get into town to do their shopping, go to the bank, go to the doctors.

"We were given no warning before they decided to stop the service and they haven't put any signs up telling people the service has been stopped so you've had people queueing up, without knowing."

Karen Heseltine, who manages the community centre, said she had been inundated with correspondence from "worried" elderly and disabled residents regarding the lost service.

She added: "The lack of the bus service is making people become isolated and losing their independence, which in turn will potentially create health problems for many of our residents who like many live on their own, with family living out of town.

"Our centre was set up to help prevent loneliness, and becoming isolated, and bringing the community together, offering services that Burnley Wood need, and here is a service provider removing a valuable service which our area desperately needs."

Insiders at Rosso admit they have been swamped by phone calls and letters, protesting about the lost service, but neither managing director Phil Smith or bus manager Brendon O'Reilly were available for comment last night.

The revised 463 route, in the Burnley direction, now travels along Todmorden Road to Yorkshire Street, and towards Rossendale extends out from Bacup town centre through the Pennine Road estate and along New Line to Fearns College, Waterfoot and Rawtenstall.