RESIDENTS in the South Zeal area are furious over the sudden withdrawal of the regular 186 bus service which they say has been stopped without any official notice, affecting schoolchildren and other residents.

Jane Holmes, of Sticklepath, said it was 'crazy' to cut public transport in a poorly served rural area where there were few pavements or footpaths.

'Surely, if we are to get the message across to our children that using public transport is the way forward, bus services need to be retained.

'If all the parents were to drive and park in the village twice a day, this is not giving the right message to our children,' she said.

Mrs Holmes has started a petition to press for the continuation of the service — she is also lobbying councillors.

Childminder Karen Mallet, of Sticklepath, has just bought a multiple ticket for her daughter but received no warning that the service was about to end — the ticket expires in July.

'Certainly that school run is well used — it should be subsidised,' she said.

'Although it's obviously affecting us, it's going to affect South Zeal as well. There are always complaints that it's too congested.'

Sharon Cooper, whose daughter, Amy, uses the bus service, said she was 'very cross' — she has had no official notification of the sudden cessation of the service.

'I was absolutely gobsmacked — we only knew from the newsletter from school.

'Amy was sent a pass so they must have our address, or you would think the bus company could have given notices to the children who use it before now.

'The bus is often full in the evening — if that isn't economically viable, what is?

'It's going to be a case of more cars — South Zeal is cluttered enough as it is,' she said.

Headteacher Bobby Sutton said the school received no official notification from First Western National — the first she heard about the withdrawal was from a bus driver.

'If we hadn't phoned I doubt we would've known about it now,' she said.

'We have been trying to encourage people not to take cars into the village because it's not safe. It seems to me quite a contradiction that the Government should be saying they want to get people into public transport and then to axe a perfectly good system for no reason,' she said.

In a written statement, First Western National said: 'First Western National operate service 186 under contract to Devon County Council who provide a subsidy and consequently control service levels.

'Budgetary pressures have forced Devon County Council to review their subsidised services and as a result, the service has been re-timed and reduced.

'We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers following the review of the service by Devon County Council.'

County Council spokesman David Hutchings said the 186 service was one of several started as an experiment three years ago, funded by special government money.

'For the most part these were successful, but in this case, apart from the school run, it was just one or two passengers using it, which isn't enough to justify spending public money on it.

'If the school changes its times, we will look at the situation again in September. Obviously, it's something we regret, but there isn't anything we can do for the small number of children using it for the rest of this term.'