Shortage of drivers and road works lead to cancellations and delays to Arriva bus routes in Bishop's Stortford area

A shortage of drivers and the impact of road works in Bishop's Stortford and the surrounding area have led to cancellations and delays in bus services.

A spokesperson for Arriva told the Indie on Monday (March 6) there would be "targeted service reductions" later in April to improve "punctuality and delivery".

Stortford passengers have been commenting on cancellations and late running buses while the town has been gridlocked by a spate of road works for some months.

The Arriva spokesperson said: "We’re currently experiencing driver shortages in Harlow which is impacting service delivery.

"We do have a significant ongoing focus on driver recruitment to address this and we will also be introducing a series of targeted service reductions later next month in a further attempt to improve overall service delivery and punctuality.

"Added to our driver shortage, which is a well-documented bus operator issue across the UK, there are also a significant number of road works across the region which again are causing issues and delays to the running of our services."

Arriva's statement comes after it was revealed in a BBC survey that Hertfordshire had seen the biggest drop in the country in vehicle miles on bus services – 56% – from data supplied by the Department for Transport.