A COMMUNITY is angry changes to bus services in Langdon Hills will still leave people without a direct route to Basildon Hospital.

First is bringing in service changes next week but some residents claim they will be left “stranded”.

Langdon Hills is currently served by the 25B which leaves Westley Road and Shelley Avenue, Great Berry, twice every hour from 7.03am until 17.50pm.

This will be replaced by 15A and 15B that will run every half hour from Westley Road to Wickford or Runwell between 7.09am and 6.13pm, but buses will no longer stop at Great Berry.

The services will still also not stop at the hospital despite requests from residents and councillors.

Charles Payne, 84, of High Road, said it is “disgraceful” passengers have to change buses in Basildon town centre if they want to get to the hospital.

He added: “My wife suffers with her legs and has to go to the hospital quite a lot but she doesn’t drive. I do but one day I might not be able to take her so I want to make sure she will still be able to get there.

“To get to Basildon Hospital it costs £10 each way in a taxi, and for a pensioner that’s an unreasonable amount of money.

“If you live in Laindon, which is just the other side of the railway line, then you can pretty much get a bus anywhere you like so why can’t they just extend the route slightly to us? It shouldn’t be about what is best financially, it should be about providing the best possible service to customers.

“We all pay the same taxes.

“On Sunday there are no services at all so residents are completely stranded. I think it’s absolutely disgraceful, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

Sandra Hillier, Tory councillor for Langdon Hills, is a member of the Basildon Bus Forum committee and has called for an emergency meeting with First to deal with the concerns.

She said: “I have been inundated with phone calls from people who just want to be able to get to the hospital, their doctors surgery or even their local shop.

“There are a lot of elderly people, and now I’m a pensioner I can understand how they feel. They are very hard done by and I totally agree with their concerns. Langdon Hills is still part of the borough and it deserves a decent bus service.”

First Buses claim they provide “regular and reliable” connections with eight buses from the town centre to Basildon Hospital every hour.

A spokesman said: “We regularly review and analyse our services to ensure they are performing as efficiently as possible, and we take on board customer feedback when making changes to a route