A SHOCKED man returned home from work -- to find a bus stop outside his front door.

Keith Simpson is now trying to get the shelter removed after it was placed just a couple of feet away from his front door.

Hyndburn Borough Council put the shelter up after moving it 50 yards from another spot in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle.

But Mr Simpson says he had no idea the structure was being placed at the front door of his home, where he has lived for 15 years and has been converted from a hairdressing salon, until he returned home from work one day.

Keith and wife Christine say they now have difficulty accessing their property, with gangs of youths congregating outside their front windows.

He said: "I couldn't believe it. I now have to ask people to move aside to get to my own front door and when I step outside I am literally pushing into the queue at the bus shelter."

Mr Simpson, 60, who is a wagon driver for Icethaw Salt Supplies Ltd, GEC business park, Clayton-le-Moors, added: "Although there is a rail type seat in the shelter people are also sitting on our window sills and the youths that gather there at night bang on the windows.

"Because of the time of day we go to work and come home we are always having to ask people to move because it is so busy. "We now have no privacy we can't even talk to people at our front door because people are listening in."

In the last 12 months Mr Simpson says the bus stop itself has been moved three times although this is the first time the shelter has changed position.

He added: "I just don't understand it as the pavement is twice as wide where it was before but now if a lot of people are already under the shelter pedestrians have to step into the road to walk around which makes it dangerous too. We want it moving" The bus stop is used by M and M Coaches, Blackburn Transport and Pilkingtons with some of the services stopping there every 30 minutes.

Mrs Simpson, 49, wrote to Hyndburn MP Greg Pope about the problem and he has contacted Hyndburn Borough Council on their behalf.

He said: "I have written to the council asking them to move the bus shelter because it clearly is upsetting for this family as people are queuing outside their front window and it is a serious issue. Nobody would want this right outside their property."

John Schofield, technical manager for Hyndburn Borough Council's work services said: "We need to look into this with Lancashire County Council. The proposal to put the shelter in its current location was part of the quality bus route initiative between Hyndburn council, county council and the then bus operators.

"But as a result of comments from Greg Pope and Mr and Mrs Simpson we need to discuss this and resolve one or two matters." Ray Pilkington, of Pilkington's Coaches which uses the route, said: "No forethought is given to the positioning other than in terms of advertising."