HUNDREDS of people joined a protest meeting against bus cuts in Minehead this week.

The Save Our Buses campaign collected a total of 3,196 signatures for a petition calling for three vital bus routes set for the axe to be saved.

The 10 Porlock to Minehead service, 14 Minehead to Cannington and 101 Minehead Town Service are all set to stop running from the end of the month after Buses of Somerset found the routes weren't commercially viable.

A protest meeting was organised in Wellington Square on Saturday and the Save Our Buses team collected hundreds of signatures throughout the morning.

Somerset County Councillor Terry Venner, who also works as a bus driver, said: "I am pleased as punch to see so many people turn up this morning, we have had nearly 1,500 signatures from Porlock alone.

"It just shows the support there is round here – not everyone uses the buses regularly but it is nice to have it there.

"The County Council have no money to put in, and that is their policy. The thing is most people would be quite happy to pay towards it to keep it going.

"I just hope the County Council can find a way to step in temporarily until we can work something out. Once it is gone it is gone forever."

The Mayor of Minehead Jean Parbrook said she is concerned there is not enough time to reach a compromise.

"This is the law of unintended consequences. By giving pensioners free bus travel, we can no longer afford to provide buses for them.

"Unfortunately I do not believe there is enough time to reach a compromise. I worry about the old folk we have here – isolation of elderly residents is already a concern. For many the bus is a big part of their social life. Yes, you can get your shopping delivered now but it is not the same.

"My mother in law has recently given up driving, she is over 80 and of course we said she will be able to get about on the buses but almost straightaway the plan has gone to pot and I am sure there will be many in similar positions."

West Somerset District Councillor Karen Mills said she wanted to know if First Bus had looked at reducing the level of service rather than cutting it altogether.

Porlock resident and District Councillor Ivor Jones criticised MP Ian Liddell-Grainger for 'misplacing' the blame with the bus company.

"By blaming the bus operators, however, Mr Liddell-Grainger, has side-stepped the issue. He has been unwilling to lay the blame where it belongs – the Conservative administrations over the last few years, thanks to their severe cuts to local authority spending, in the name of Mr Osborne’s ‘austerity’."

Minehead resident Tracey Coles, a regular user of the 101 Town Service, explained why she felt losing these buses would be so problematic.

"I rely on service as I cannot walk into town anymore. The College kids need it to get to school from Ashgrove and Cuckoo Meadow, others use it for shopping, to get to the hospital.

"I think a lot of people would be willing to pay rather than lose the service altogether."

Thelma Frost, from Alcombe, said: "One of my biggest concerns is how we are going to get people to the hospital.

"The news has just been dropped on us out of the blue. If taxpayers money wasn’t spent on such frivolous things we wouldn’t be in this position."