THE number of people who have signed a petition calling for a direct and regular bus service between Wellington and Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has passed the 2,100 mark.

Bus campaigner Debbie Pemberton, of Bulford, Wellington, is calling for one direct bus an hour between 9am and 6pm.

She says she will run the petition until the end of September, then it will go to Wellington’s MP Rebecca Pow.

Passengers from Wellington now go to Taunton bus station and catch the park-and-ride bus to Musgrove Park instead of the number nine service as they had been doing, although that still means paying bus fares or using concessionary bus passes four times.

WebberBus, which went out of business earlier this year, ran a service into and out of Taunton via Wellington which did stop at the hospital.

The petition can be signed at newsagents E J Teare, Paws ‘N’ Claws, Coffeee No 1, Wellington Weekly News, Micro Check Computers, The Garden Cafe, one Stop Wellington in the High Street, and One Stop Tonedale.