A VALE pensioner has exposed anomalies in bus timetables that cause passengers travelling between Pershore and Stratford to miss a connection by five minutes, meaning a wait of an hour for the next one.

Betty Swann's experiences have prompted the bus companies involved to look more closely at their connection schedules.

Mrs Swann, aged 70, of Broad Street Pershore, recently took the bus to Stratford with a friend. She set off from Broad Street at 10.30am and arrived in Stratford at 12.40pm.

On the return journey she left Stratford at 6pm and arrived in Pershore, more than two and a half hours later, at 8.40pm. She pointed out that this journey takes about 35 minutes by car.

She blamed the journey times on the timetabled connection in Evesham, explaining: "The bus from Pershore arrives in Evesham at 11.05am but the Stratford bus leaves at 11am.

"The next bus for Stratford is at noon, so we had nearly an hour to wait - and this is when the service is working properly."

She encountered a similar problem on the return, waiting over 90 minutes in Evesham.

Mrs Swann said: "Thank God there was a caf open. I'm sure that with a little bit of thought those services could have connected."

Ken Radbourne of Worcestershire County Council Passenger and Fleet Transport Unit said: "The two services are run by two separate commercial operators and overseen by two different county authorities.

"We always do our best to connect services but what is a good connection for one service is a bad connection for another."

Jim Mason of Stagecoach Midlands Red, operator of the 28 service to Stratford, urged Mrs Swann to make the situation clear to the company.

"If the lady would be good enough to write to me I can make sure the letter gets to the right people so perhaps something can be changed to improve the situation," he said.

Austin Birks, commercial manager of First Midland Red, operator of the 551 service between Pershore and Evesham, said: "Having brought the matter to the attention of the company, we recognise the inconvenience and we will be more than happy to look into the matter to see if improvements can be made."