'Our village minibus is a lifeline'

In the 1980s, residents of the Hampshire village of Broughton, frustrated at rural bus services, set up their own minibus service.

Four decades later, and with rural bus services under pressure from funding cuts, the current minibus - known affectionately as Bertie the Bus - is still a "lifeline", according to its regular users.

It runs on most weekdays to towns and cities including Winchester, Andover and Southampton and also offers summer excursions to seaside towns.

Subsidised by Hampshire County Council and the Test Valley, it is free for bus-pass holders, while others pay a fare.

Broughton is a village in the Test Valley district of Hampshire with a population of around 1,000 people.

The nearest cities are Salisbury and Winchester which are both a 30 minutes drive away.

It is currently served by the Stagecoach number 16 service which stops at village several times a day.

The volunteer-run Village Bus bus has 15 seats and as people get on they are greeted by Adrian Crossley, a volunteer driver who knows each passenger by name.

"It's a social thing apart from anything else," he said after explaining that he has been a volunteer for six years.

"Others wouldn't be able to go to the shops as easily and I think they would become more isolated if they didn't have the opportunity to do this."

Enrique Vasquez who has been using the service for four years said: "It is nice to get away from the house once a week.

"Normally we go shopping, I cannot walk properly because of my knee and the bus lets me see places like Salisbury and Winchester," he said.

Janet and her husband say they depend on the bus.

"I've got Parkinson's disease so I can't drive and my husband has macular degeneration so he can't drive either.

"We've been drivers all our lives but now we're totally wholly dependent on the bus, we'd be absolutely lost without it," she said.

Vicky, said it commuting by bus was "impossible" and the minibus was a convenient mode of transport for when their cars are off the road.

"Unless I can beg my husband to take me somewhere, I'm stuck, so this bus is essential.