A BUSY bus line in Jaywick may be forced to withdraw its services if potholes in the area are not fixed within eight weeks.

A Hedingham and Chambers bus took significant damage after hitting a pothole in Jaywick Brooklands on Friday.

This caused the company to remove its Route 4 services over the weekend, much to the dismay of regular bus users.

Mark House, Hedingham's schedules manager, said: "The reason we are looking at withdrawing the service is because of the damage potholes are doing to our buses.

"Last week, damage had been made to the suspension and underside of a bus."

However, due to conversations led by local councillor Bradley Thompson, the service is back up and running for eight weeks.

Jaywick councillor Bradley Thompson said: "After lots of talks we agreed for them to get the route back on Monday, which was not easy.

"I can’t thank Mark and Shane enough for the support they have shown, they have agreed to run the service for eight more weeks to give the local authorities time to hopefully fix the problem.

"If another one of the buses gets damaged, the line will be withdrawn."

The damage to the bus amounted to thousands of pounds.

Mark House continued: "This is not a decision we as a company want to make as we have a popular Clacton network and the services to Jaywick are always busy.

"We have been pushed into this position due to the condition of the roads in the area.

"We just can't afford the damage the road is causing to our bus fleet."

Bradley Thompson was taken on a Route 4 bus to see what the roads were like and was "absolutely shocked" at the state of the roads.

Clacton MP Giles Watling added: "I am aware of an issue which may affect the provision of bus services within Jaywick. 

"As I understand, this is a private road and not strictly within the powers of Essex County Council. 

"However, we cannot allow Jaywick to lose access to vital public transport and as a result I am in contact with local authorities to discuss possible solutions. 

"I care about our buses, so much so that I have an active campaign to improve them locally. 

"My hope is that solving this matter can be part of the broader campaign to improve public transport in our constituency."