MP Alan Milburn is calling on a bus company to reinstate a service that was stopped two years ago.

He wants Stagecoach to reconsider its decision to discontinue the 25A service which ran through the Branksome area of Darlington.

The circular service used to run in an anti-clockwise and clockwise direction, but now it only runs in a single loop.

The local residents' association has handed Mr Milburn, their MP, a petition containing 300 signatures of people calling for the full service to be reinstated.

Sam Buckle, chairman of the residents' association, said: "The thing is it's the elderly who suffer. They relied on this service, because it meant they could get on the bus to the shops in Whitby Way, and then get the bus that ran in the opposite direction back home again.

"But now they have to travel through town to get there. And although 400 metres isn't far to walk for young people, for an 80-year-old woman who walks with sticks, carrying shopping, it's a very long way indeed."

He suggested that rather than having buses run every eight minutes as they do now on the estate, they could run every 16 minutes instead, but in both directions.

The residents have received a letter from Tony Blair, who has passed their concerns on to the Department for Transport. They also have the support of MEP Stephen Hughes.

Mr Milburn said he had written to Stagecoach asking for the service to be reinstated, and was told it was changed because there weren't enough people using it.

He said: "We are going to campaign on the residents' behalf on this. There seems to be a huge strength of feeling on this and we need to get this service back for the residents. They say it's affecting their quality of life."

Mr Milburn has suggested a public meeting could be held to get residents and representatives from Stagecoach together to work out a solution.

No one at Stagecoach was available for comment.