Passengers have been left stranded as a shortage of drivers forces Stagecoach to cancel scores of bus services every day.

People across the east of the county have become accustomed to buses failing to appear as timetabled as the lack of qualified staff continues to impact on services in Folkestone, Ashford and beyond.

The bus firm uses its Twitter account to send out regular updates about which routes are not running - but customers are increasingly responding with dismay at the cuts to the planned schedules.

Elly Scott, who lives in Hythe, says her son has had his first term at Dover Grammar School for Boys disrupted by the ongoing cancellation of buses he uses to get home.

"I ended up collecting him and his friend who were left stranded after the bus failed to show," she said.

"Two vulnerable 11-year-olds standing in the dark for over an hour. My son is autistic and this is ruining his school day as he is constantly worried about the bus journeys.

"The previous two days he had been told to get off at Folkestone and get on another bus, despite the 102 running from Dover to Lydd, Stagecoach had decided to terminate that school bus at Folkestone without warning.

"I totally understand there is a driver shortage, but why are they cancelling school buses?"

Delia Ivin, who travels from her home in Kennington to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, says the lack of reliability has forced her to take a taxi to work on numerous occasions.

She said: "I pay through the NHS for a monthly bus pass. So having to pay £9 to get to work because Stagecoach can't provide their advertised service really makes me angry."

Others have said they have experienced waits of an hour or longer where advertised buses have failed to appear.

Stagecoach blames the current disruption on an estimated national shortfall of 4,000 qualified bus drivers - and says it is doing all it can to bring through more staff to drive its fleet across east Kent.

A spokesman for the bus operator said: "As with many industries across the country, we are continuing to face a short-term staffing situation that is out of our control due to external factors affecting the wider transport and logistics sector.

"As a result, this is having an impact on our bus services in Kent, and we are having to make some day-to-day changes to our scheduled services.

"We will continue to keep our passengers regularly updated on our website and social media, and are working hard to resume our full service as quickly as possible, giving advanced notice of any planned alterations to our services in the meantime.

"We would like to thank all of our passengers for their patience."

Passengers had been braced for worse to come as staff at depots in Kent had planned to take strike action over pay in November in December.

"We remain focused on delivering the best service possible to our customers..."

However, the industrial action has been averted thanks to the workers reaching a pay deal with bosses.

Joel Mitchell, managing director for Stagecoach South East, said: "We’re very proud of our team, who do a fantastic job in delivering vital transport connections for local people.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with our Unite local representatives that provides a fair deal for our employees in Kent and helps to secure the long-term sustainability of the local bus network.

"We remain focused on delivering the best service possible to our customers at a time when there are challenges facing bus networks across the country as a result of the pandemic and other factors outside our control."

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