Bus operator Salisbury Reds is making some temporary cuts to its services due to driver shortages, starting on Sunday.

The company is introducing the changes due to a "temporary shortage of staff", which has recently caused many short-notice changes to bus timetables in Salisbury.

The changes will affect the R11, PR11, PR9, and PR15 services, starting from Sunday, October 17.

Driver shortages has been a national issue in recent months, and Salisbury Reds has responded by reviewing its timetables.

The company says it has also been impacted by delays in being issued provisional driving licenses from the DVLA.

Changes to services from Sunday

From Sunday, October 17, the start point for the R11 (Sundays only) service towards Old Sarum will start at Stop J, in Castle Street, outside Iceland.

From Monday, October 18, the PR11 service towards Old Sarum will also move to Stop J, and services from Monday to Saturday will reduce in frequency from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.

This service arriving in the City Centre will no longer terminate in Blue Boar Row, but instead will stop at Endless Street (on request to the driver), and then terminate in Castle Street at Stop J.

The Park and Ride facility at Beehive continues to be out of use and will not be served.

Also from Monday, from Mondays to Saturdays, both the PR9 Britford Park and Ride and the PR15 Petersfinger Park and Ride services will also reduce in frequency from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.

Salisbury Reds recommends passengers download the Salisbury Reds app, to track their buses in real time.

'We have reviewed our timetables', says manager

General manager of Salisbury Reds, Alex Chutter, said: “Like many businesses in recent months, we have been affected by a temporary shortage of staff, in particular drivers.

“Whilst we continue to welcome new colleagues into our business, delays in obtaining provisional licences from the DVLA earlier in the summer have impacted on the number of drivers available to work.

"This has meant that we have had some short-notice journey cancellations for which we apologise to any customer adversely affected.

“We have therefore reviewed our timetables in accordance with current levels of demand, to minimise any inconvenience to our customers,

“There are some minor reductions to the frequency of our PR9, PR11 and PR15 park and ride services - to ensure our customers are able to plan their trips with us, and to avoid any short-notice disruption.

“We are also advising those travelling with us to download our app, so they can track our buses in real time."

He added that the company is currently recruiting drivers, and it doesn't matter if applicants have never driven a bus before: "We just want to see if they have the aptitude, and then we’ll provide full driver training.”

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