A FORMER Rossendale mayor was among elderly residents left stranded at bus stops after the company running the dial-a-ride service went into administration.

Bosses at Lancashire County Council are now urgently seeking a new firm to run a door-to-door bus service in the borough.

The Rossendale dial-a-ride provides a community transport service to people who are eligible to join the scheme because they can't easily access other public transport.

Former borough mayor, and Newchurch resident, Mollie Disley, 82, said she was left waiting for an hour for the bus on Tuesday before being told it wasn’t running.

“A group of us use it to get to the supermarket and do our shopping, we are stranded without it,” she said.

“Everybody that uses it is elderly and a lot are disabled and the service is a lifeline.

“We feel so strongly about it, I really hope somebody else can take on running the service,” she said.

The service, which has been available in Rossendale from Monday to Friday, will not be able to run until the county council can find another provider to take on the contract.

Tony Moreton, assistant director of sustainable tran-sport, said: “The Rossendale dial-a-ride service is highly valued by its regular users and the county council is already looking for another operator to take on the contract.

“I'd like to apologise for the inconvenience this will cause to people but the situation has been out of our hands until now and we will do our best to resolve it as quickly as possible.”

The Rossendale dial-a-ride service operated from Monday to Friday with around 1,200 passenger journeys per month.