More than 100 people in Bearsted have already signed a petition protesting about their poor bus service.

Peter Wiles, a retired deputy head teacher from Aylesford School, who lives in Grove Green, launched the petition only last week after the bus company Arriva ignored complaints he made about the No 19 bus.

The bus runs between Cross Keys in Bearsted and the Chequers centre in Maidstone.

Mr Wiles, 72, said: “It is very often late, and sometimes doesn’t turn up at all.

“It’s then an hour’s wait till the next service.”

Mr Wiles has contacted the Office of the Traffic Commissioner to complain about the service.

The Traffic Commission advised that once a bus operator has registered details of a service with the commission, it is expected to run that service within a boundary of being no more than two minutes early, or five minutes late.

Craig Taylor, the marketing manager at Arriva, said: “We are aware of problems on the network in this area and would like to apologise to Mr Wiles and other customers for any inconvenience they have been caused.

“We are doing all we can to speed up improvements and are in the process of implementing changes which should mean the number 19 service is more reliable from April.”