RESIDENTS in a Thurrock village turned out this morning (Friday, 1 September) to hold a wake – for a lost bus service.

They gathered in Horndon on the Hill to mark the last running of the number 11 bus – one of the services axed by Thurrock Council Conservative councillors despite objections from residents who say it, and other rural services, are the local community's lifeline.

Dee Rogers, a Horndon resident and bus user campaign team organiser said: "There are presently no plans for an alternative service and as such I will go further on to say that village residents and others such as school and college children and commuters have been abandoned.

"It is not acceptable that they are left with no public transport."

Residents are also angry that the cash-strapped council will continue to draw subsidies from the government for bus services it no longer provides.