A pensioner has criticised a bus company urging people to shop in Bradford for axing several services between the city and her village.

First Buses has this week urged people to make the most of its services when they come to shop in the city.

However this has angered Guiseley resident Anne North, 69, who says she is being prevented from shopping in Bradford because First Buses have stopped four different bus routes which used to pass close to her home.

Last year, the company axed its number 97 Leeds to Bradford service and its 653 Bradford to Harrogate service, which both pass through Guiseley, because they were not commercially viable.

The company also removed its 651 and 647 buses which used to run in a circular route between Bradford, Greengates, Guiseley, Shipley and back to the city centre.

First Buses has backed the Telegraph & Argus Buy It In Bradford campaign to get people to continue to use the city centre as it undergoes massive regeneration.

Now Mrs North says she has no access to public transport into Bradford unless she walks 15 minutes to Guiseley train station.

She said: "I like the Telegraph & Argus Buy It In Bradford campaign. I grew up in Bradford and I welcome it.

"But it made me very angry when I read that First Buses were backing it. How dare they back this campaign when they are removing the buses?

"I wrote to them about this but they have not even acknowledged my letter.

"It takes me 15 minutes to get to the nearest bus or train and for people living at the other end of the Tranmere Park estate it is even longer.

"There are a lot of older people who cannot drive and my husband and I like to use public transport when we can as you got older you become more environmentally conscious.

"They are making it very difficult to get to Bradford but we can get to Leeds so I shop there. But I would like to go to Bradford, I was brought up there and used to go to the Girls' Grammar School."

First Buses' commercial director in Leeds Richard Harris said the 97 bus had been scrapped because it was not commercially viable. However he declined to comment on the other three bus services which are run by First Buses in Bradford.

Nobody from First Buses in Bradford was available for comment.

A spokesman for Metro, the West Yorkshire Transport Authority, said the decision to close routes rest with individual bus companies but the authority can subsidise routes if they meet certain criteria.