A BUS travel shop where people can buy tickets is facing closure, which would leave firm Arriva without any shops in the county.

Arriva has confirmed the travel shop based at Southend Bus Station in Chichester Road is under consultation to fully close.

The firm state that the decision has come in the wake of the business environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A spokesman for Arriva said: "The Arriva Travel Shop in Southend is under consultation for closure following the Covid-19 outbreak.

"As a business, we unfortunately find ourselves in an extremely challenging environment and the decision to consult on this has not been taken lightly.

"We are incredibly grateful to all of our travel shop customers for their support over the years."

Should the shop close, Arriva, that runs services between Rayleigh, Southend and Shoebury, would have no physical place for passengers to buy items such as National Express tickets, day trips and more long haul journeys in Essex.

The firm added information is available on its app and website for customers but would not disclose how many jobs are at risk.

They said: "We are committed to ensuring our customers are kept up to date on ways to access Arriva timetable and ticket information whilst we are in this consultation period."

Ron Woodley, councillor responsible for transport in Southend, said: "I am sure we will pick this up as a council and make sure there are ways for people to get their bus passes and tickets.

"But it's sad times, they have not got the passenger numbers, the government said about not using public transport and I've seen buses going around virtually empty with one or two passengers on."