AN MP says her campaign to save rural bus services in the region has got off to a good start.

Durham City Labour member Roberta Blackman-Woods yesterday launched a petition calling on Durham County Council, bus operators and the Government to do more to keep services running, particularly those that serve the area's former pit villages.

She began collecting signatures in Durham City's recently-refurbished bus station and at Kelloe, a village that has recently seen one of its services axed, where many villagers added their names.

People are concerned at the number of services that have been axed by operators which say they are unprofitable and little used. They are also worries over the county council's decision to cut or reduce more than 60 evening and Sunday services that it subsidises in a bid to halt a projected £700,000 overspend.

Mrs Blackman-Woods said: "These bus routes are a lifeline for the residents in the villages. For example, route 25A has been stopped which connected some small villages in the south of the city.

"This service allowed residents to get around, to visit the doctor and to use the shops. The county council needs to do everything it can to have it reinstated.

Mrs Blackman-Woods will take the petition to her constituency surgeries and people can also sign online at her website www.roberta.org.uk