Jeremy Corbyn almost late for meeting on bus services after his does not turn up

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was forced to take a car to Derbyshire to speak about cuts to bus services – after the one he was waiting on failed to show up.

Mr Corbyn met residents and community leaders in Ilkeston on Friday and planned to use a service that had suffered from a reduction in funding.

Despite saying he was “stoic” and would “see it through”, he was forced to catch a lift to the Kirk Hallam Community Centre from Nottingham to ensure he was not late.

Speaking at the bus stop in Nottingham, Mr Corbyn told the Press Association: “We’ve been waiting 25 minutes for the bus – it was due at 42 (past the hour) and I look over there and it says 11.07am – and it has even disappeared off the information board.

“So I don’t know what has happened to this bus but we’re stoic, we’ll wait, we’ll see it through.

“But I think this kind of proves our point about private operators running buses and not doing it terribly well.”

Commenting on what he would do to improve bus services impacted by cuts, Mr Corbyn said: “So what we want, in the case of Nottingham, an expansion of the Nottingham buses which are very good and we want the same in cities across Britain where local authorities will be able to run the bus services but also integrate with the improved rail service because public transport has to be better.

“In suburban and rural areas, the bus service in many parts of the country has all but disappeared.”