A NATIONAL bus company has again come under fire after two groups of passengers were left stranded in east Durham.

Arriva, which operates services in and around the Peterlee area, was recently criticised for using old and unreliable vehicles that frequently broke down.

Now county councillor Morris Nicholls, who represents the Thornley area of Easington, has again hit out at the company after a group of elderly people were left waiting for two-and-a-half hours and a bus due to take schoolchildren to Wingate failed to turn up at all.

Coun Nicholls, who has received dozens of complaints from residents about Arriva's service, called on the company to invest in new vehicles.

He told the company its practice of using older vehicles had repeatedly left passengers stranded.

Despite assurances given to him at the time from the company, Coun Nicholls said: "If anything, the service has got worse.''

"Firstly, the bus did not arrive to take the pupils to Wellfield School, in Wingate, and the group of pensioners were left stranded in Hartlepool for more than two hours because a bus had broken down.

"And they are just the ones I know of.

"I don't blame the drivers, they are doing their best, it is the dilapidated fleet Arriva is using which is causing the problem.''

Iain McInroy, operations director of Arriva, said: "We acknowledge that there have been recent problems with reliability caused by mechanical problems with some buses at Peterlee.

"Our engineering team is working very hard to address these issues and to return reliability to the level our customers expect and we want to provide.''

He said that in recent years Arriva had made investments in infrastructure and vehicles in Peterlee.

Mr McInroy said the company would meet Coun Nicholls tonight when the company planned to give further assurances about the services.