Passengers are in uproar at the puntuality of a busy bus service.

Hawkwell, Hockley and Ashingdon residents have bombarded the Arriva buses social media pages with complaints after months of frustration from the company.

Kera Lewis from Hawkwell, said: “It just seems ludicrous that the larger both communities are getting, the buses seem to be getting reduced.

“They don’t stop at certain stops because they’re ‘too full’, sometimes even at Rayleigh Church which is the third stop on the route.”

Many have suggested reintroducing double-decker buses but that seems unlikely due to the height of the bridge by Rochford Rugby Club.

Alison Symes, 48 from Ashingdon Road said: “My son has to get a bus every day to work and they are constantly running late.

“He has an inoperable brain tumour so he is unable to drive and relies on the bus service.

“He’s back in full-time employment after a lot of hard work and now the bus service is letting him down.”

Residents have reported having to let two or three packed busses go past before they can get on board. The buses now run every 30 minutes which means some have been left waiting for over an hour.

Alison’s son, Adam Symes, 25 said: It was 17 minutes late this morning, it’s not great when it’s your only way to work.

“Everyone sends numerous messages, tweets and emails and they just say the same thing, ‘we’ll look into it’ but they never do.

“The fact the guy who updates the timetable lives in Maidstone says it all. They don’t have a clue what times are busy and how often they need to be run, and they clearly can’t read the data from the buses that says how many passengers they let on and at what times.

“To top it all, now they’ve taken over the late-night contract from Stephenson’s, so the last number seven doesn’t even run back to Southend, it goes out of service in Rayleigh.

“Apparently the extra 4 miles isn’t worth their time and money.”

Rochford councillor Carole Weston for Hockley and Ashingdon wards said she receives calls and emails daily regarding the issue and she is in talks with Arriva trying to find a solution to the problem.