The Brixham Community Bus service which provides an evening route into and out of Kingswear, is down to one volunteer driver. Bolstered by the grant of £500 from the parish council, the bus service needs more drivers and is keen to recruit new volunteers.

The bus service runs on an hourly basis with the first bus leaving Brixham at 7.05pm and the Kingswear Banjo at 7:25pm. The last bus leaves Brixham at 11.05pm and leaves the Kingswear Banjo at 11.25pm. The service’s timetables have been posted in the bus shelters and distributed in the village.

A spokesman for the service said: “The bus service has no paid staff and is run to provide a service to the local community. We decided to start the buses after we received stories about people struggling to get to work, people not being able to get out to see friends and people not being to get to and from Kingswear and Dartmouth after 7pm in the evening.

“We have grown to two minibuses, one 15 seater and one 16 seater, both which are wheelchair accessible and provide transport for several groups as well, as part of our service, which helps to support the bus route.

“We are always looking for volunteers who could drive day or night or help us run the organisation, so if you feel you would like to help in any way, would like to know more or would like to book a bus, please contact Richard on 07875 336672”

County and District Councillor Jonathan Hawkins said: “I have approached the county to see if they can help but regardless of the response we need more drivers. Our current sole driver is Richard Bray and he cannot handle the schedule alone.”

The local community bus has now been running for nearly 2 ½ years, each evening, 7 days a week. It was started by a small group of concerned volunteers, after the subsidised evening service was stopped, due to funding cuts by the local councils.