A PENSIONER was ordered off a bus after being told its journey was being cut short.

Margery Harrison, of Yeadon, got on the struggling 757 Otley-bound bus outside Murgatroyds, Harrogate Road, Yeadon at 9.35am on Monday only to be told it wasn't going to Otley after all.

Mrs Harrison, 75, said: "I gave the driver my 35p and my pass and he asked me where I was going. I said Otley and he said he was too late and wouldn't be going there."

Just last week, First bus company's managing director, Steve Graham, was at Pool Parish Council meeting answering complaints about the service - the only bus through Pool - which he said was in danger of being axed.

People at the meeting complained about driver rudeness and being 'turfed out' at the airport when buses were running late.

While promising to tackle driver rudeness, Mr Graham explained that road congestion at busy times meant that the service may in the future have to terminate at Leeds Bradford Airport.

He said he wanted to run a reliable service and said that drivers should tell customers another service would be along shortly.

Councillors and residents pleaded with Mr Graham to retain the service, which they said provided a vital lifeline to many people.

Mrs Harrison, who was travelling to Burley-in-Wharfedale to visit friends and needed to catch a second bus in Otley, denied that the bus was running seriously late.

"I got off the bus and looked at my watch and it was only five minutes late.

"The driver wasn't apologetic at all, he just said he was too late."

Mrs Harrison, a regular 757 bus user, crossed over the road to catch the 33A bus which eventually got her to Otley via Yeadon.

"The trouble is the drivers waste time at the airport and also at the Shell petrol station in Pool where they just sit and wait.

"I use the bus regularly and it was annoying to miss it this time, but I could catch another one, but what about the poor people in Pool who'll have no bus at all," said Mrs Harrison.

And she claimed the service was getting worse.

"It was so much better when it was Aztec Bird, they were more courteous.

"This one is simply getting worse and they wonder why people don't want to use buses."