BUS drivers are keeping elderly residents up at night and waking them as early as 5am while they smoke cigarettes, leave engines running and “sit on their phone” outside the cab.

Pensioners inside the Yantlet sheltered housing complex on London Road, Leigh, have been left furious all summer as “inconsiderate” bus drivers park up outside.

A bus stop sits directly outside the four-storey building, but drivers from Arriva and First buses park up at the stop at the start and end of services, at 5am and at 12.30am.

Residents claim engines are left running at both times in the night, while the drivers smoke with colleagues.

READ MORE:

Sleeping pensioners who leave their window open are then woken up by the noise, or kept awake by the fumes.

Jill Goff, 58, who lives inside the complex, said: “We’ve got people in here who are over 100-years-old, they shouldn’t be dealing with this.

“Drivers are often off the buses, smoking or on their phones. This goes on till gone midnight.

“When the weather is warmer residents like myself are entitled to have windows open but you can guarantee at 5am the engine noise starts.

“They sit there time and time again with engines running.

“Why can’t they turn the engines off?”

Arriva insisted they will be encouraging drivers to be more considerate to residents.

A spokesman said: “Thank you for the feedback, we have not been made aware, previously, of any problems in the area resulting from our buses using the stops adjacent to the housing complex.

“While the highlighted stops are timing points and it is essential that we serve these points inline with the published timetable, we will be encouraging our drivers to be more thoughtful and sympathetic towards the needs of residents in all areas such as this, especially during unsociable hours.”

Mrs Goff added: “We know it’s a busy road, but even at night it’s quiet, until the buses turn up.”

First Essex insisted drivers do not have allocated waiting times at the bus stop outside the living complex.