Angry campaigners have turned out in force to demand an end to a bus ban they claim is discriminating again the elderly and infirm and families who cannot afford to run a car.

And they claim the bus services have now been routed along a road that does not even have any stops.

More than 30 protesters turned up at this week's Dartmouth Town Council meeting to voice their concerns over the controversial decision to shift the X81 and 93 bus services out of Victoria Road and send the buses along College Way instead.

Now it is planned to hold a survey of residents living along the old bus route to see whether they want to see the buses – including double-deckers – allowed back into Victoria Road.

And the town council – which backed the original bus ban – has been invited to look at the routes again to see if the councillors want to change their minds.

Resident Joan King told councillors at their Monday meeting that the protesters were campaigning in the 'name of sense and humanity to retain the quality of life for so many and ask for the bus services to be reinstated'.

She said the elderly, the infirm, who have had to give up driving, and families who do not have cars have been hit by the changes.

'Many senior bus card holders see the problem as a case of age discrimination. We hope this is not the case.'

Mrs King said there were seven feeder roads and eight bus stops along the Victoria Road route but no feeder road and no bus stops at all along College Way.

More on this story in this week's Dartmouth Chronicle