SEVEN councillors are joining forces after being inundated with complaints about late and missing buses.

The group will carry out surveys at bus stops in Darlington town centre and in Haughton, Whinfield and Springfield in the hope of addressing residents' concerns about services 9, 10 and 11.

Complaints include buses being late or failing to turn up at all, and several buses arriving at the same time.

Bus provider Arriva says the problems are temporary and have been caused by roadworks, which it has no control over. The company says it is making efforts to mitigate the impact.

But the councillors, who represent Haughton East, North and West wards, have met managers from Arriva, and say the meeting failed to answer all their questions.

Now, they are taking matters into their own hands and are talking directly to passengers.

The information will be recorded and presented to the bus company and Darlington Borough Council transport officers.

Councillor Bev Hutchinson, who was elected for Haughton North at the May local elections, said: "Both Councillor Tom Nutt and I have been approached by many people over the past few weeks who are seriously dissatisfied with the service Arriva is operating.

"Complaints include buses bunching, and the state and ages of the vehicles.

"Passengers do not understand why communication between the company and themselves regarding late or cancelled services is so poor."

Also involved with the surveys will be councillors Martin Landers, Chri McEwan, David Lyonette, Andy Scott and Nick Wallis.

Coun Hutchinson added: "It was very helpful meeting Tony Batty, the head of operations for Arriva North-East, and he gave us some general reassurances about service improvements.

"Nonetheless, there's a lack of real evidence about exactly how passengers feel about the quality of bus services here in Haughton and Whinfield.

"We hope that our survey will address that gap."

Mark Ellis, a spokesman for Arriva, said: "Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with the running times we have.

"Whenever there are roadworks on particular routes, that tends to lead to delays.

"We have a town centre supervisor who is trying to regulate the services, in particular service 11. Trying to keep them apart is very difficult.

"Evidence-based feedback would be very welcome."