BUS operator Arriva was left with no option than to reduce its service to a Teesdale village after a landslip resulted in the A67 being closed, it has said.

The company came under fire from residents in Gainford, near Barnard Castle, after altering its timetable to the village when the road was closed at Low Carlbury, between High Conniscliffe and Piercebridge.

This left the village with an hourly weekday service instead of a bus every 30 minutes.

Paul de Santis, Arriva's head of commercial development, told Gainford Parish Council members the company could have done better in its efforts to communicate the changes to passengers.

He said in the first few days following the road closure, Arriva had attempted to run its normal timetable while liaising with Darlington Borough Council.

“Services were not able to keep to time and occasionally journeys were lost altogether," he said.

“Once we were aware it was going to be a long-term closure, we had to take measures because we have obligations to both our customers and traffic commissioners to keep to the timetable.”

Mr de Santis said running an additional vehicle on the route in an attempt to keep to the normal timetable would have increased costs by 33 per cent.

This would have been loss making “to a huge degree,” he said.

He said the revised timetable had been a compromise, and while that meant Gainford's service had been reduced, Arriva did not wish to leave anyone isolated.

“We put notices on buses, leaflets in libraries and information points on the routes and something on the website – we are not allowed to put information on bus stops as the belong to Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council.”

But Mr de Santis conceded: “We could have done more. The majority of users knew about the new timetable, but some did not.”

He also told members that the revised hourly Sunday service was being reduced to two-hourly from July 28 until the A67 reopens.

Parish councillor Andy Smith said further reductions in the bus service could lead to passengers changing their habits, resulting in “death by a thousand cuts.”

Mr de Santis said Arriva anticipated restoring both the daily half-hour service and the hourly Sunday timetable once the A67 was open.

“We have no hidden agenda – we would like to get back to normal and the sooner the road reopens, the better.”

A special meeting of Gainford Parish Council will be held on Monday, June 17, when Dave Winstanley, Darlington Borough Council's assistant director for highways, will update members on progress with repairs to the stretch of the A67 affected by March's landslip.