Residents of a Huntingdonshire town have slammed a local bus company for a recent spate of cancellations they claim have caused significant disruption. 

Commuters travelling from Godmanchester described Whippet bus cancellations as "frustrating" and claimed "unreliable" services have made them late for work and even forced them to miss hospital appointments. 

Laura Smith* regularly commutes to college using the X3 service but said "frequent" cancellations impact her "almost daily", delaying her arrival by up to three hours.

She said: "Daily cancellations and delays cause great stress for me. I have to miss lessons and fall behind while attempting to catch up with work I missed at home.

"It often takes me around two hours to get the bus home each day due to the late nature of the service. 

"On days when direct Cambridge to Huntingdon buses have been cancelled I have to take multiple buses which creates further expense and it can take me up to three hours to get home.

"It's frustrating for me, but I strongly feel for workers, people trying to get to hospital appointments and older residents who get confused at the cancellations." 

The X3 and X2 services run from Huntingdon to Cambridge and call at various stops including Godmanchester, Papworth Everard and Cambourne. 

The 66 service, which runs from Huntingdon to St Neots, has also faced cancellations.

It comes as residents in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are being asked to share their views about how the bus services should be run in the future.  

The Combined Authority launched a public consultation that delves specifically into bus franchising in August. 

Another Godmanchester resident, Dawn Moreham, said she was almost struck off from her local dental practice after missing three appointments due to bus cancellations. 

She said: "If you miss three appointments you get dropped with no chance of being allowed back unless you get put on a massive waiting list, which can take months. 

"I thought I could rely on the bus service, but it turns out I couldn't and ended up missing all three appointments.

"After pleading with the dental practice they gave me one last chance and I ended up paying for a taxi to get there on time and, thankfully, I managed to keep my place."

Meanwhile, Jason Hill, who said he moved to Godmanchester because of the bus links into Cambridge, is forced to leave home at 4am to ensure he gets to work on time. 

He said: "The situation has been getting worse and worse to the extent that you really don't know when the bus is going to turn up and it's just too risky to leave it to chance. 

"I've been late to work a number of times and there have been times when I've almost been late picking up my son from school, so now I'm using Stagecoach to get into Cambridge.

"However, that means I have to leave home a lot earlier and spend three hours commuting to Cambridge, so the days becomes very tiring."

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority said: "The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is aware of the recent disruptions to bus services between Huntingdon and Cambridge, particularly the impact this has had on residents in Godmanchester.

"We take reports of delays and cancellations seriously, as we understand how crucial reliable public transport is for access to essential services, such as hospitals and schools.

"We are in regular communication with all bus operators, including Whippet, and are actively working to ensure that they meet the needs of passengers.

They added: "The Combined Authority will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with operators to improve service reliability, ensuring that residents can depend on their local transport links."

Ed Cameron interim general manager at Whippet Buses said: "We had a small number of cancellations on our bus network in the area recently, and we’re sorry that this has caused difficulties for our customers.

"We are prioritising key journeys, including those for students and commuters, and overall are running over 97 per cent of journeys.

"We also apologise to customers who were affected by delays on the route between Godmanchester and Huntingdon, caused by the closure of Godmanchester bridge and the diversion route buses were following. This has now re-opened, and buses are back to normal route.

He added: "Very occasionally, a journey may have to be cancelled at short notice due to staff shortages or vehicle issues.

"We're working to boost our recruitment and continue to welcome new drivers to our team as we work with the Combined Authority to grow the bus network.

"If you’d like to join our team, apply online at www.whippetbus.co.uk/careers."

*Some names have been changed