PEOPLE in Darlington have signed a petition calling for changes to a popular bus service.

The 108-signature petition is being sent to the Stagecoach company, in Darlington, to show customers' disquiet over a change in the timetable.

The 25A circular service, which runs through the Branksome area of the town, used to travel in anti-clockwise and clockwise directions.

But 18 months ago, it change to run in a single loop. The switch has upset a number of residents, particularly those living in Whitby Way.

Nicola Edmondson, who signed the petition, said the previous service enabled many elderly people to get on the bus on one side of the road and travel to the next stop, where they could visit the local shops.

"Then they could get back on the bus on the other side of the road and get home," she said.

Now customers are having to do a full circle through the town centre in order to get back.

James Mellor, divisional traffic manager for Stagecoach, was surprised to learn of the petition because he said the service changed at least 18 months ago.

"We decided to change the service simply because the majority of people using it were travelling to the hospital or the town centre," he said.

"Therefore it seemed sensible to have all the buses running on one side of the road for ease of the customer."