By Stewart McConnell

IRATE pensioners have been left up in arms after a bus was re-routed from one of Troon's main roads.

Local resident Kerry Smith revealed at last Tuesday's Troon Community Council meeting that she has been approached by a number of elderly residents who have complained that the number 14 bus bypasses Dundonald Road.

She said: "The number 14 bus used to go down Dundonald Road and it doesn't now. Old people who live there and have their wee routines can't get a bus down to Troon, the bus now goes through Loans."

One Community Councillor said he had raised a complaint about the matter with Stagecoach West Scotland and said: "Stagecoach never told us they were taking that bus off. They tell you bus times are on the internet but the people who use buses are elderly. I got early copies of the timetables in Irvine the week before December 29 but they did not issue timetables until January 3 or January 4 and none of the bus shelters have them up."

Community Councillor Anne Cameron said people in the Central Avenue area didn't want to go all the way round Barassie on a bus to get to Troon.

However a spokesperson for Stagecoach West Scotland said: “We can confirm that changes to Troon services were communicated throughout a number of different channels from October 2018. Proposed service changes were provided to local MSPs, MPs on October 22, furthermore changes were discussed at the Ayrshire Bus Users Group (ABUG) meeting and agreed as an improvement on the services prior to the changes on January 7. A small number of concerns were addressed. A public information day was held at Ayr Town Hall to provide customers with information on proposed timetables and route changes. Information was shared throughout our website and social media channels.

"On buses, notices were displayed from early December 2018 as well as information provided to local media in October 2018 and December 2018. Customers registered with Stagecoach West Scotland each received an email to advise of upcoming changes to services. Revised timetables were available from December. Whilst we appreciate that some residents in Troon may not have been aware of changes to service we believe that we exhausted every channel available to us to ensure that as many of our customers as possible were made aware of the changes on January 7. The feedback from the majority of our customers regarding the changes in Troon have been positive with many commenting on the increased service between Troon and Irvine."