A BLIND woman has won a competition to become the voice of a £3million new fleet of buses linking Hyndburn and Rossendale with Greater Manchester.

Hannah Woodfin has been selected to provide on-board audio announcements for the 464 service.

The 30 new vehicles will travel between Accrington, Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Bacup and Rochdale.

Ms Woodfin, from Rochdale, said: “I saw the competition and decided to give it a go. I’m blind and epileptic and so I rely on the announcements when I’m travelling, so I know how important it is to have a clear, local voice that everyone where we live can understand.

“It’s sometimes not fair to ask the bus driver to remember where I need to leave the bus. The great thing about these announcements is I don’t have to ask for help, it gives me and plenty of others our independence back."

Alex Hornby, chief executive of Rosso’s parent company Transdev, said: ““Hannah’s voice is just what we’ve been looking for and the fact that she knows how these announcements really make a positive difference makes her the ideal choice. "