A TAUNTON carer is blaming no-show buses for frequently making her late for work.

Kelly Horton has been left waiting for her bus in the Lyngford area on several mornings recently.

First South West says some services have been pulled at times due to a driver shortage hitting the industry nationwide.

Ms Horton said: "They missed four buses at 8am in a recent week. It's not good enough.

"It made me late for work, which isn't good as I have to get the people up for their meds.

"Buses of Somerset use the excuse they're short of drivers and some are sick, but this has been going on since before Covid and in lockdown.

"Most of us are key workers who don't drive and have important jobs to do. We need to get buses.

"If you buy a weekly ticket, you can't use it, so you're wasting your money."

A First South West spokesperson said: "As is being experienced across the bus industry, we have seen varying levels of driver shortages over the last few weeks in Taunton and the wider county similar to other road transport businesses.

“We are doing everything we can to maintain a comprehensive network of services that supports our customers and our communities under exceptional circumstances and making every effort possible to deliver the full timetable as advertised with the majority of routes running normally.

“We thank customers for their patience and understanding while we overcome this short-term situation.

“We continue to offer an attractive and competitive employee proposition, both for our existing dedicated team and for new drivers undergoing training.

"People are keen to become bus drivers and serve their local communities, and we are working to make that process as easy as possible.”