A CLEVEDON pensioner is questioning the state of public transport serving the town after more than 30 passengers were left stranded in Bristol when

A CLEVEDON pensioner is questioning the state of public transport serving the town after more than 30 passengers were left stranded in Bristol when their bus broke down.Rita Booth, aged 81, who suffers from severe arthritis and a heart condition and walks with two sticks, was left waiting in the pouring rain with scores of other passengers for more than an hour-and-a-half when their bus came to a halt just minutes after leaving the centre of Bristol.The shoppers had caught the number 364 bus to Clevedon, but the vehicle ran out of fuel on Brunel Way, just past the Cumberland Basin.Passengers had to wait 20 minutes for an engineer to arrive to try to fix the problem, but the bus driver then announced the vehicle had a fuel leak and would not be able to continue on the journey.A second bus picked up the passengers and dropped them at the nearest bus stop in Winterstoke Underpass, where they then waited for just under two hours for another vehicle to come along.Rita Booth, of Pound Lane, who suffers from severe arthritis in her hands, knees and feet, claims the buses which serve Clevedon are older and not as well maintained as the vehicles in other parts of the district.She said: "It was very cold and pouring with rain and there wasn't room for everyone under the shelter. My feet became very painful with all the standing up. "When something like this happens you wonder how old the buses actually are and whether they are as well maintained as they should be."We only seem to get the old buses going on the route to Clevedon."But First confirmed its buses are kept in top condition. A spokesman said: "First would like to apologise for the inconvenience to passengers after the breakdown of the bus, which was caused by unpredictable mechanical failure. "We keep records of all the congestion issues on our routes and it was unfortunate that this incident coincided with a number of other incidents on that day, which created congestion on that side of Bristol. We regularly service our vehicles and have very high maintenance standards.