FRUSTRATED shoppers and visitors are having to wait for the bus after park & ride services were slashed.

A 10-minute service throughout the week has been reduced to every 15 minutes in the off-peak period leading to a build-up of queues, particularly at Boughton Heath park and ride.

Passengers have complained about waiting more than half an hour because the next available bus has filled up within seconds.

Cheshire West and Chester Council has responded by giving an attendant the power to ring up for an extra bus to clear the backlog.

Roger Vincent, a bus passenger and former manager with Chester Bus, who helped set up park and ride, has heard shoppers vowing never to return to Chester.

He said: “On Thursday, April 2, I arrived at Boughton park and ride to catch the 11.10am bus only to find it crammed with standing passengers and I was unable to board along with four others.”

Mr Vincent added: “The decision to reduce the bus journeys by one third is potentially disastrous for the popularity of park and ride and I would urge fellow passengers to tell our new “listening” council that this retrograde step is unacceptable and the 10 minute service should be immediately reinstated.”

Mr Vincent took photos on a recent Saturday at the Boughton Heath site showing a full bus leaving with at least a bus load left waiting.

“It was no surprise that people were giving up waiting and going elsewhere. Equally it was not surprising that there was chaos at Frodsham Street at 3pm with shoppers trying to return to their cars. My wife could not get on the first two buses and had to wait until the third arrived.

“There were people in the queue around her from Huddersfield, Warrington, Liverpool and Halifax all declaring that they would not be visiting Chester again.”

Upton parish councillor John Butler, former vice-chairman of Chester Bus, welcomed the introduction of brand new low-floor Volvo buses for park & ride but voiced concern about the reduced service.

Council spokesman Ian Callister said savings were necessary because of extra costs associated with the government’s free off-peak concessionary travel scheme for pensioners.

However, the government had since indicated free travel “does not necessarily” apply to park & ride.