Anger over sudden bus changes


BUS users were taken by surprise when Arriva ended some services and revised others at short no- tice.


Borough Cllr Jenni Paterson (pictured), who rep- resents North ward, said the company should have posted leaflets at all bus stops or on the vehicles. "It would have been more helpful to people to plan their routes, especially where they have taken buses off. "Bearing in mind it was such a


far-reaching thing, with some services being five or 10 min- utes earlier and people having to catch trains, it would have been welcomed by the public to have made it clear that this was happening imminently." Matters were made worse by a delay in the new timetables being printed. They were still not avail- able at Arriva’s Travel Shop several days after the changes. Staff told Cllr Paterson the public had given them a "rough time" over the issue. Downs Mail received a press release from Arriva


on April 6 - and this is the first Town edition of the paper since then. The statement said the changes re- sult fromspiralling fuel prices and a reduction, from April 1, in the amount of reimbursement by local authorities for those journeys made by passengers using National Concessionary Travel free passes It added: "In most cases, there are minor changes


to the times of some specific buses on each route, but on others there are more significant changes and some poorly-used journeys, generally early in the day or in the evening, will be withdrawn. "Those services with minor changes are the 5, 8,


12, 17, 71, 72, 82, 85, 101, 135, 334, 575 and 703. "Service 18 will no longer run but it will be re- placed between Maidstone and Palace Wood by Service 79 which will run through from Penenden Heath in the same way that it does on Saturdays, providing an hourly service across the town. "At Grove Green, Service 19 still provides a link to


the towncentre onMondays to Fridays and will run additionally on Saturdays to replace Service 9. "The timetable of Service 59 will be substantially revised, with some journeys re-timed and some withdrawn to match the service more closely to de- mand. "Between Maidstone, Armstrong Road, PlainsAv-


enue, Shepway and SenacreWood, Service 84 will have some revision to its Monday to Friday timetable, but it will no longer run on Saturdays as a result of insufficient demand on that day. Service 85 will, however, continue to run between the town, Shepway and Senacre every 10 minutes for the main part of the day on Mondays to Saturdays and half-hourly on Sundays. "The timetable for Service 89 buses between Cox-


heath and the town centre will be revised and the frequency onMondays to Fridays will be reduced to run every 20 minutes." However, there was some positive news: "Fre- quency of the 101 between Maidstone and theMed- way Towns will be doubled on Sundays to give a bus every 30 minutes between Maidstone and Gillingham, in place of the current hourly service. "The service between Maidstone and Chatham via


the Medway Valley, the 155, will also be improved to run hourly for the main part of the day on Mon- days to Saturdays.”


Police to own patch Continued from page one


budget by 20% over four years, mostly in the first two years. This means 1,500 posts (500 officers and 1,000 civilian staff) being axed from the 7,000-strong force. That includes a recruit- ment freeze. Chief Constable Ian Lear- month has given a clear steer, he said. "Neighbourhood policing is absolutely the bedrock of every- thing we will be doing." A re- configuration


of what


neighbourhood officers will be doing means the public-facing role will be “maintained if not enhanced”. The existing six command


units - one is Maidstone and Swale - are being reorganised into just three - West Kent, East Kent and North Kent & Medway. The changes will be imple- mented by the end of this year. Ch Supt Nix, who will run


West Kent, said the new set-up "is going back to what we used to do" on proactive policing. "You own the patch, you own all of the problems - crime, anti-so- cial behaviour, community en-


gagement - you own the lot. "It will take us a little time to


get our heads back round that but when I had a beat, when I first joined the job nearly 26 years ago, I owned that patch and I took it personally if some- thing happened on that patch. "We have that in pockets now,


we have certainly got that in neighbourhood policing, and the idea is this will enhance that even further. He believes that "front-line ownership" is crucial. Ch Supt Nix's will be respon-


sible for Maidstone, Tonbridge & Malling, Sevenoaks and Tun- bridgeWells. He said: “Maidstone will stay


as a custody centre and patrol centre and it will enhance its neighbourhood capability. It will also have detectives - the crime groups - based at Maidstone. "It's not yet defined but I have


a view that Maidstone is the di- visional headquarters. This will be the centre of operations for west division. It's the busiest, it's the biggest. The County Town needs to be the divisional HQ,” he added


Community order for common assault


NATHAN Jamie Townsend (19) ofWallis Place, Hart Street, Maid- stone,was subject to a community order following offences of com- mon assault and criminal damage to property in January. Townsend pleaded guilty to the offences and was ordered to un-


dertake six months treatment for alcohol dependency, attend ap- pointments with a probation officer, and carry out 140 hours of unpaid, supervised work for 12 months. The defendant also pleaded guilty to using threatening language and behaviour but no separate penalty was made.


4 Town


Cllr FitzGerald after the abseil


Lost revenue and high fuel prices ARRIVA’s publicity manager Richard Lewis said “We have had to implement changes to most of our services in the Maidstone area to offset the effects of high fuel prices and a loss of income through the reduced amount we, like the majority of bus companies, are now receiving from local authorities to reimburse us for journeys made free by conces- sionary pass holders. “The reduction in that rev-


enue is substantial and we have had no choice but to make some economies in cer- tain areas. “We have, however, kept


any reductions in frequency or overall service level to a minimum.” Mr Lewis said full details


were in a special leaflet from the Travel Shop, but it had run out of copies when the Downs Mail dropped in two days after the changes. Call 0844 800 4411 or visit www.arrivabus.co.uk for more information.


Riverside collapse led to drowning A CAR park attendant on his way home from work fell into the River Medway and drowned, an inquest heard. No precise explanation emerged about how David MacDonald


(64), of Postley Road, Maidstone, came to be in the river though a theory put forward by pathologist David Rouse was that he might have had a "blackout" or a "hypo" as he suffered from heart disease and diabetes. Passer-by Kay Card spotted MrMacDonald in the water at 5.30pm


one evening last November as she walked along the footpath near the Travelodge hotel. She tried to resuscitate him but the weight of his wet clothing made it difficult for her to hold on to him, so she called the police. An officer helped with CPR until paramedics arrived. The hearing was told no one witnessed how Mr MacDonald got


into the water but there was no suggestion of foul play or of sui- cide. The path was not slippery. Work colleagues described him as a "happy-go-lucky" character


with no apparent problems that day. He did not smoke and rarely drank alcohol, the inquest heard. Mr Rouse said his heart disease and diabetes might have caused


him to collapse into the river. He could not swim and he might not have been able to cry out for help in the very cold water. Coroner Roger Sykes recorded a verdict of accidental death.


Oldest abseiler in town?


AT the age of 73, borough Cllr Mike FitzGerald can lay claim to being one of Maidstone’s oldest abseilers. The Independent member for Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton ward, raised money for Maidstone Christian Care - a charity for which he is chairman of the trustees - by abseiling down FremlinWalk into Earl Street. The Maidstone Christian Care team, which sup-


ports homeless and vulnerable people. raised around £1500 in individual sponsorships.


Concern over stolen toy dog Sammy


A CHIHUAHA dog was stolen from outside Bower Stores in Bower Place, Maidstone. Sammy, aged 10, has a long


sandy blond colour coat. He was last seen being dragged down Bower Place towards


Upper Fant Road by a man of stocky build, aged 18 to 20, 5ft 8in, with black hair and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Sammy needs regular medica-


tion and his owners are very concerned about him.


You can e-mail the Downs Mail—info@downsmail.co.uk


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