A BUS passenger who claims she was stranded in Monmouth twice says the county council told her they didn’t have the budget to update the bus timetable.

June Smith had finished work when she decided to catch the number 69 service back home to Llandogo, near Chepstow.

She said: “I was left standing at Monmouth bus station for about half an hour each time, then my husband, who is not well and doesn’t drive much unless he has to, came to fetch me. If I had known that it had been shifted forward an hour to 2.10pm I could have waited, but as there was no timetable in the bus station I had no way of knowing.  

“I later rang the independent bus firm who is contracted by the council (Phil Anslow Coaches) who told me that it was the responsibility of Monmouth­shire County Council to manage the timetables. I then rang the council who told me that ‘the budget didn’t run to it.’

“I was in complete disbelief that the council has seen it fit to change the bus company and bus times on the 69 route between Monmouth and Chepstow, but have kept the old timetables on the bus stops.”

She added: “Are the council saying it’s acceptable to keep pensioners hanging about in the rain for non-existent buses because they can’t afford a few sheets of paper run off a computer?

“The council then went on to say that informing people of new bus times is ‘not a priority’. He could not explain why the online timetable was still the old one, clearly showing the 1.10pm from Monmouth to Chepstow on a Saturday, when it has in fact been taken off and shifted an hour later.”

Monmouthshire County Council failed to comment before the Review went to press.