MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for a direct and regular bus service between Wellington and Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

Bus campaigner Debbie Pemberton, of Bulford, Wellington, said the petition calls for one direct bus an hour between 9am and 6pm.

Ms Pemberton, 52, who is visually impaired and makes frequent visits to the hospital, said: “The petition is going very well just over two weeks since launch and I’m so happy that people in Wellington are behind us. It just means that people do need the bus.”

She will be out with supporters collecting what she hopes will be hundreds more signatures at Wellington Food and Drink Festival on Saturday, September 3. Campaigners will then push their case at the monthly Wellington Town Council meeting on Monday, September 5.

Ms Pemberton also hopes to promote the campaign through Facebook and in Rockwell Green and Tonedale. “People in Rockwell Green are going mad,” she said. “They are just not connected and have even further to travel.”

She says she will run the petition until the end of September, then it will go to Wellington’s MP Rebecca Pow. “I am hoping she will get on board, as she did with the Monument, and try and help,” Ms Pemberton added.

Passengers from Wellington now go to Taunton bus station and catch the park-and-ride bus to Musgrove instead of the number 9 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.

Ms Pemberton said the lack of a direct bus was particularly difficult for older people as not many owned cars and had to rely on lifts or, if they did drive, found the parking fees charged at Musgrove prohibitive.

She added: “People are really behind the petition – I picked up 70 signatures from just Bulford yesterday. I have had young families sign who do not have cars, as well as older people, so there is support from people of all ages. I am not surprised how many people have signed – I knew I would get the backing and I did.”

The petition can be signed at newsagents E J Teare, Paws ‘N’ Claws, Coffee No. 1, the Wellington Weekly News office, Micro Check Computers, The Garden Cafe, One Stop Wellington, One Stop Tonedale, Tim Potter, Son and Daughter butchers, Mary Jenkins greengrocer, Wellington Medical Centre, the Luson Surgery, Loose Ends Hair & Beauty Salon, the newsagents at Tonedale and Wellington Bowling Club.