Don't drive, but how will you get home? (From Witney Gazette)

Don't drive, but how will you get home?

11:48am Thursday 4th January 2007 in Witney By Jo Duckles

A NIGHTCLUB manager wants bus managers to re-think controversial cuts to night services over the festive period.

Zolly Branch, the manager of the Park End club, in Park End Street, Oxford, believes no night buses on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day was behind quiet night's trading.

Stagecoach does not put on night buses on those nights, but this year also cancelled its services on New Year's Eve, because it fell on a Sunday.

Mr Branch said customers complained over Christmas about no night buses.

He spoke out after reading criticism in a national newspaper by TV motoring celebrity Jeremy Clarkson about the extra New Year's cancellation.

Mr Branch said: "It was dead (on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day), and we spent somewhere in the region of £1,000 on staff taxis, getting people to and from work.

"It was major short-sightedness on whoever's behalf.

"Whoever came up with the idea of cancelling transport on those dates is treating Oxford as a village, instead of a city.

"We were inundated with complaints from customers.

"One chap came from High Wycombe, and spent £120 getting here."

He claimed takings were down a quarter on the previous year for the two nights, although Stagecoach traditionally has not run any night services on those nights.

He said despite the lack of buses, New Year's Eve trade was better, but he believed there should have been buses.

Mr Branch added: "On New Year's Eve, people were prepared to put their hands in their pockets.

"I just think it is unbelievable we are all trying to encourage sensible drinking, and part of that is getting people home.

"We had customers asking us how they should be getting home. It is embarrassing for a city like Oxford to have been mentioned in a major tabloid newspaper."

In a Sun column, Mr Clarkson, who lives in Chipping Norton, pointed out how there are bus lanes everywhere and bottlenecks created to encourage motorists to use park-and-ride systems.

It asked what would happen if workers like the police, nurses, or firemen finished work early during the festive period.

Stagecoach spokesman Chris Child said: "We don't feel that the number of people that would use the night bus on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day would justify the running of them.

"We haven't run night buses over Christmas for a few years. This year, we decided to drop the New Year service, due to the fact it was on a Sunday.

"We made an announcement as early as we could, so that people could make alternative arrangements to get home."