People living in the Leasowe estate have expressed their concerns after bus services have been stopped from going through the estate after 6pm.
Arriva has stopped their buses from serving the Leasowe estate this week after youths put barriers up on the estate's Twickenham Drive and shined lazor pens at a oncoming bus. Merseyside Police were called but when they arrived no barriers were found and the bus had left.
Shortly afterwards, Arriva announced their decision to divert the 413, 414 and 423 bus services from the estate after 6pm, and the service will now be run via Leasowe Castle for the next 18 nights. For people living in Leasowe it is an unfortunately familiar move by the company, who have had trouble with the estate in the past.
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In October last year the company said it had recieved complaints that bus drivers had lazer pens shone at their eyes while driving through the estate. In October of the year before that the company announced it was diverting its services from the estate after a thrown brick shattered a bus's windscreen as it drove along Twickenham Drive.
In 2016, once again in October, the company was forced to divert their buses from the estate after recieving "countless" reports of thugs throwing stones at buses travelling through the area.
Despite understanding the clear need for Arriva to safeguard their drivers and also those who ride their buses, many people living in the area are worried about being left stranded in the area by the changes. One woman who lives on the estate and did not want to be named said: "It’s quite a deprived estate really and you get a lot of people who can’t afford a car and rely on the buses to get to work or to get to the shops, we’ve only got Heron Foods really.
"The rest of the shops are a bus ride really, especially if you’re elderly. If you’re elderly you’ve got no chance have you after 6pm at least.
"It’s bad for people who can’t use a car or get to the station."
Kelly, a mum who lives on the estate, said the diversion was a yearly "nightmare." She told the ECHO: "It’s going to be hard getting to work for some people. It’s a nightmare because it’s constantly going on and it’s every year.
"It’s also shame for the older people around here, because most of us respect the estate, but these younger thugs they don’t have any respect.
"I’m okay myself because I don’t work or have to go out much in the evenings anyway. But people who go to work are having to walk all the way to the main road or to the train station, and some aren’t able to go that far.
"This is an every year occurrence and it’s getting to people now. I’ve been questioning if I should move or not from the estate. It makes me angry to be honest."
A spokesperson for Arriva said: "We have had a number of instances of antisocial behaviour during the evening on the Leasowe Estate in the area of Twickenham Drive, affecting our services 413,414,423.
"Due to these incidents services will be diverted of and evening (from 6pm) with immediate effect and until further notice, via Leasowe Castle.
"We are working closely with Travel-Safe to try and alleviate the poor behaviour, all incidents have been reported to the police and CCTV downloaded to aid in any investigations."
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