A Suffolk dad has hit out at an "unreliable" bus route amid claims it is hardly ever on time and sometimes too full for pupils.

Simon Rappolt, of Walsham le Willows, said the Simonds route 73 bus, which his child uses to get to Thurston Community College after the company withdrew the 337 and 338 routes, is causing problems for pupils.

He said families were told during the summer holiday that the new route, a short-term replacement funded by Suffolk County Council and set to stop in December, had been launched. 

Thurston Community CollegeThurston Community College (Image: Newsquest)

However, Mr Rappolt has said the service is "unreliable" and he fears for what could happen come December if the route is not replaced. 

He said: "It is clear how much of a car crash it is and how much of an impact it's had on the community.

"It is not just Walsham, it is all the rural communities that are affected.

"We lost the school bus service a while ago. We will lose this in December. I feel that this is a sticking plaster to get us to that time." 

Mr Rappolt said he feels the timetable of the route is "misaligned" with the school day, with children arriving an hour before school or not on time and then having to wait for over an hour after school finishes.

"It comes packed and kids are being turned away." he continued.

"You've got year 7s, 10 or 11 years old, and it's a stressful time anyway for them - this makes it even worse.

"The village is basically being cut off at its knees. They have built new estates with family homes but without the infrastructure."

Suffolk County Council said the route is a short-term replacement until Christmas intended to give parishes time to propose a service that could be funded with the Bus Service Improvement Plan grant.

The council said it is aware of some issues in the first week of operation and is working with Simonds to resolve them. 

Mr Rappolt has said the service is unreliable Mr Rappolt has said the service is unreliable  (Image: Stock)

A spokesperson for Simonds said they are aware of the problems with the timetable for the route and are "urgently reviewing" it, with a meeting planned this week with Suffolk County Council.  

"We apologise to passengers in the interim, as we understand how frustrating the late running is," they said.

"The service is running with our highest capacity single deck bus, and we cannot allocate a larger vehicle due to the nature of the roads that the route runs along, but we are closely monitoring usage with a view to providing additional capacity wherever possible."