Bus issues leave students waiting almost two hours

Transport issues between Leamington Spa and the University of Warwick left students waiting almost two hours for a bus on the evening of the 10 March 2016.

Between the hours of 6pm to 8pm Stagecoach buses were regularly seen heading towards Leamington Spa, but were not appearing as scheduled to take students to campus.

Any buses seen going in the direction of campus were ‘not in service’ until the first service started again at around 8pm.

The delay is thought to have been caused by an accident on the A46. Flooding in Leamington Spa may also have had an impact.

First-year Philosophy student Heather Curtis commented: “We were left waiting in the cold for an hour and a half whilst over ten buses passed on the other side of the road.

“I probably would have been better off just crossing the road and staying on one of those.”

George Muscatt, second-year Biochemistry student, stated: “I didn’t even know half the buses that passed us existed!”

He continued: “Stagecoach has failed us yet again.”

Richard Hands, Leamington Spa operations manager for Stagecoach, explained: “Services between Leamington and the University were affected an accident involving three vehicles which took place on the A46 near to the junction of the A45.

“We were able to divert some of our services to try and avoid the area however, with the build up of traffic, services were, unfortunately, subjected to long delays on both inbound and outbound trips. Regrettably the impact of road traffic accidents of this type is not something which is within our control.”

He continued: “Please pass on my apologies to all those affected.”