MP joins call for more reliable bus services after Houghton Regis mum forced to give up her university course

A mum who had to give up a Master's degree because of an unreliable bus service has met with MP Andrew Selous to tackle the problem.

Lauren James, who lives in Houghton Regis, also wrote to the council’s highway provision team and Central Beds councillors with her concerns about Bedford Road. She explained it was originally a narrow country road and is now the only link between the new estates at Bidwell West and the shops and facilities.

The MP for South West Bedfordshire and the mother-of-one met at her home in Octavian Road on the Thorn Fields – and Lauren walked him down Bedford Road on the route she and many others are forced to take when the HI service, run by Grant Palmer, doesn’t turn up.

Lauren, 30, says she was forced to give up her Master's course in Applied Psychology at the University of Bedfordshire because of the patchy service and claims she was repeatedly left waiting for more than two hours in the cold with her toddler son.

Lauren described Andrew Selous as ‘very kind’ and said: “He took me very seriously and I’m now much more optimistic that something will be done. Ideally, we’d like the bus service to run every 30 minutes instead of every hour – and to be more reliable. It’s a 40-minute walk from the estate to the nearest shops and my son’s nursery. And when you’re pushing a buggy in this weather it seems a lot longer.”

Mr Selous said: “There are two road crossings close to blind bends which are scary, particularly as a large number of vehicles were clearly travelling well in excess of 30 miles an hour. There is also an absence of speed limit signs and we clearly need much better speed enforcement to make it safe for pedestrians."

He added the pavement was extremely narrow, and said: “I was also very concerned about the unreliability of some of the local bus services and particularly upset to learn that Lauren had to give up her Master’s course in Luton for the same reason. I have written to Central Bedfordshire Council a number of times to raise my concerns for pedestrians on Bedford Road. And we need to look again at the money available, through Section 106, to improve their safety.

"Bedford Road is the connecting artery between this huge new development and the centre of Houghton Regis, and it cannot be left in this state.”

He will also take up concerns about the reliability of local bus services with the companies responsible.

A spokesman for Grant Palmer said: "Unfortunately, the main issues we are struggling with are beyond our control. High levels of traffic in Dunstable and Houghton Regis during rush hours have a knock-on effect on services for the rest of the day. The extensive road works in the area including closures of Busway or Bedford Road in Houghton Regis causing diversions and heavy traffic also have an impact on our punctuality.

“We are working together with Central Bedfordshire Council to improve frequency of our HI service, as currently it is an hourly service. As soon as resources become available, we will be able to implement those changes. We do understand that those issues affect our customers in Houghton Regis and we do everything we can to keep service operating, even if delayed, to provide this vital for them service.”

It added that customers can sign up to its app, WhatsApp or call for date information about their services.

Lauren hopes to start her course again in September.