A VALUABLE transport service which provides a vital link to isolated communities in the Tavistock area is facing a manpower crisis.

Tavistock Community Bus carries 10,000 passengers a year on its services around the town and to outlying villages such as Stoke Climsland and Coryton and further afield, to Launceston, Exeter and Newton Abbot.

But its hardworking co-ordinator, Giles Baigent, who has been doing his job single-handedly for the last 17 years, is likely to be out of action when he has a hip operation in the near future.

Giles said the service desperately needed two volunteers to act as co-ordinators to keep it on the road.

He said: ?We?ve had an influx of drivers recently, which is good, but we need to make up the numbers of co-ordinators.

?We need someone reliable, who can drive and is happy to drive the bus. It?s not huge, but it is quite a large vehicle.?

The co-ordinator?s duties include being at the depot at Heywood?s Haulage in Pixon Lane at about 8.40am, checking the vehicle and the ticket machine and seeing it out with its driver, which takes about an hour.

The co-ordinator then has to see the bus in at the end of the day, which is about 3pm on weekdays and about 6.30pm on a Saturday. The money has to be checked and banked once a week and schedules need keeping up to date.

Giles said the position was voluntary, but expenses were paid by Tavistock Community Transport.

?As with the drivers, the more people we have, the more it spreads the work out. We really need three co-ordinators altogether.

?I will keep going as long as I can, but once I get a date for my hip operation, I shall be off the road for three months ? I don?t know what will happen if we can?t find someone to cover.?

Cllr Robin Pike, chairman of Tavistock Community Transport, said it was essential to find new co-ordinators as soon as possible.

He said: ?The bus provides a very good service and gives people the opportunity for a weekend trip further afield to places like Truro and Exeter at a very reasonable price. It?s a very worthwhile service for people who don?t have cars and it would be a great shame to lose it.?

He said there were plans to buy a new bus and it was good to see new drivers joining the service.

He appealed to anyone, perhaps recently retired, with either administrative experience or automotive experience, to contact Tavistock Community Transport and find out about the volunteering opportunities available. Call Giles Baigent on 01822 870433.