RESIDENTS in Darcy Lever have pleaded for some bus shelters in the area as they are currently without any.

Voicing their concerns at the monthly Darcy Lever Residents Association meeting at St Stephen and All Martyrs Primary School, attendees also asked for more regular buses.

Currently, the 511 (Bolton to Bury), 536 (Bradley Fold circular) and 544 (Little Lever circular) are the only buses going through the area, with the 511 and 544 both stopping at 7pm.

Louise Goldie, who lives on Bentley Street, said: "I don't use the buses myself but at the moment they are pretty much hourly at times.

"It is also quite an ageing population around here and in a lovely, wet Bolton they're often waiting a long time in the rain for a bus.

"There's also a lot of secondary school aged children living round here who have to get buses to Little Lever, Thornleigh and Canon Slade. So they're standing in the rain before school and then spending the day in wet clothes.

"Having bus shelters here would ease the burden of those children in particular spending the whole day in wet school uniforms. It's a miserable situation for those children every single day."

Helen Ireland, secretary of the Darcy Lever Residents Association said she has asked for shelters on a number of occasions, with no success.

"I have written to the authorities six or seven times," she said.

"Each time the answer that comes back is that the pavements aren't wide enough for the new bus shelters and that there aren't enough people using the bus to warrant it."