Councillor is expelled

COUNCILLOR Gail Lockett has been expelled from the Conservative Party group on Staffordshire Moorland District Council.

The removal of Mrs Lockett comes after the council’s Standards Board found her guilty of breaching the authority’s code of conduct by ‘lying’ about her council tax payments.

BUS company D&G has stepped in to save a bus route after it was axed by another operator, writes AIMI REDFERN.

From Monday, D&G Bus will be overseeing the 8A route from Hanley to Endon. The service was previously provided by First Potteries.

It will continue to operate on the same route hourly from Monday to Saturday, via Smallthorne, Norton and Brown Edge. The first bus from Endon, from Monday to Friday, will extend to Stoke train station.

Operations manager Kevin Crawford said: “We are delighted to be taking over the 8A from First Potteries. As soon as we heard that this service was being withdrawn, we put wheels in motion to ensure that the people along the route continued to receive a bus service. We hope that people will continue to use the service and hope people will be pleasantly surprised.”

First introduced a number of changes, affecting 13 services. D&G also altered three of its services at the weekend.

Linda Lea, who represents Brown Edge and Endon on Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, has worked with other councillors to ensure the 8A continued to operate.

She said: “We have lost so many services in our villages. To lose our bus connection would have been disastrous. I was so grateful that D&G decided to take the route over, and relieved for the local residents.

“I know how they would have been affected if there had been no bus service at all. There is a large population of elderly people in the village and the majority of them haven’t got a vehicle and could not walk from the outlying parts of the village to get a bus. They would be completely isolated without the 8A service.”

News that the 8A will continue to run has also been welcomed by passengers.

Wheelchair user Grace Hopkins often catches the 8A bus to visit her parents in Endon. The 27-year-old said: “It’s really good to hear that D&G have taken on the route.

“I’ve used it many times going to visit my parents and would have made it much harder to do if it was taken off completely.”