AN elderly patient who was forced to struggle across Clacton following a physiotherapy session has called for more frequent busses to the town’s hospital.

Jennifer Cameron, 71, from Woodlands Close, Great Clacton, said she had to walk across Clacton to catch her bus home afrer timetable changes introduced last week by Hedingham Omnibuses.

The bus firm took over the Number 4 route from First Buses in July after the company pulled out of the town.

Hedingham continued the service from Great Clacton to Jaywick, via Clacton Hospital, until last week.

Mrs Cameron said she was told there are not enough drivers to run as many busses as they are again required for school transport.

She had expected to get her usual bus after leaving a physiotherapy session at 1.30pm on Tuesday, but was shocked to find the next bus was not until 2.52pm.

She instead had to get the Number 1 bus to Pier Avenue before making her way across town to the Station Road, where the Number 4 to Great Clacton now stops.

Mrs Cameron said: “There were a lot of elderly people waiting and wondering when a bus would arrive. Everyone said they had been waiting over an hour.

“Hedingham had run the same service after taking over from First, but now you have to walk all the way into town to get the Number 4.

“The service has been replaced by 4A buses, but they go towards Point Clear. A lot people like me live in the Great Clacton area – there are a lot of bungalows with senior citizens and many have problems.

“If people have leg problems then they can’t drive - I can’t bend my knee and need an operation. The only way for me is by bus.

“They can’t expect elderly people to stand there for over an hour after physiotherapy. I’ve lived here since 1958 and it was a wonderful service with Eastern National – now we get next to nothing.”

Hedingham Buses took over the 4 and 4A route on July 29.

At the time it announced that there would be a “lot of minor changes” and that “buses will run less often at school peak times”.

Jeremy Cooper, managing director of Hedingham, said: “We’ve been able to take on the routes that First abandoned as loss making, but routes 4, 4A and 6 run less frequently at school times because the only way we can make them pay is to share the buses with school routes.

“We advertised this in the timetables we published in July and I am very sorry to hear that Jennifer Cameron wasn’t aware.”