End of the road for hospital bus

Protesters launched a widespread petition campaign to save the bus

A free shuttle bus between three hospitals in Surrey and Sussex has been making its final journeys amid last-ditch attempts to win a reprieve.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said it would discontinue the service after Wednesday as the money used to run it could be better spent elsewhere.

More than 5,000 people have signed a protest petition while councillors have had talks with trust bosses.

The bus runs between Crawley, Horsham and the East Surrey Hospital, Redhill.

The campaign against the axing of the service has been supported by union leaders.

'Save Our Shuttle'

Unison spokesperson Zena Dodgson said: "There is a huge amount of anger in the community about the trust's decision to axe our shuttle bus.

"The board has vastly underestimated the strength of feeling... [and] is completely out of step with patients, visitors and staff on this issue."

The Save Our Shuttle petition was being handed over to trust bosses at a meeting of Crawley Borough Council's Overview and Scrutiny Commission on Wednesday.

Representatives of all three main political parties on the council also travelled to East Surrey Hospital on Tuesday to argue for the bus to be saved.

The trust has said the service was underused, and the contract would not be renewed or re-tendered from November with the estimated £1m annual running costs going instead towards patient care.

But questions have been raised over bus usage figures given in an independent survey, and councillors were demanding answers on that issue.