An 80-year-old ex RAF serviceman was left to wait for two hours for the bus into Watford.

Raymond James was waiting for hours on March 7 for the W19 bus to take him from his home in Carpenders Park to Watford High Street – a journey that should only take half an hour.

Mr James says the busses were late due to the lack of funding from the council because back in 2016 busses in Hertfordshire were subsidised by the County Council - however the funding has since been cut.

Mr James was told, when he finally got the bus, that staffing problems had been causing problems.

The busses used to be subsidised by the County Council and came every half hour, however, since the subsidy ended the busses only arrive once every hour.

Mr James said: “It’s not right that people have to wait for hours to go into Watford.

“I travel maybe three or four times a week and when the subsidy was being offered the bus used to come every half hour.

“I was out in the cold waiting for the bus, and when I got on, I was told it was staffing problems that have been causing problems.

“if they are finding it so hard to provide a service, then they need to get a subsidy, but the county council won’t provide it.”

One of the other commuters who ended up giving up waiting said when she had called the bus company, she was told there was an accident in Bushey Arches that had caused a delay.

However, when Mr James spoke to the driver, he said he was told the accident was just an excuse and that the company was lacking drivers.

The cuts began in 2016 when the county council cut back on funding TFL bus routes in the county despite a petition signed by more than 2,000 people opposing it.

Cllr Derrick Ashley defended the subsidy cut back in 2016.

He said: "In this tough economic climate, at a time when we have had to raise council tax by 1.9 per cent, it is simply not justifiable for us to continue to use taxpayers’ money to subsidise commercial bus services."

Mr James said: “it’s not the busses fault it is that there is no funding being given to the company to keep up their services.

“The council needs to bring back the subsidy.”

A Hertfordshire County Council spokesperson said: “Hertfordshire County Council does provide some subsidy on W19 journeys (Saturdays) which are not sustainable on a commercial basis.

“Issues such as staffing and maintenance of buses is not the responsibility of the county council and has no relation to subsidies.”