SADLY we are about to lose more of our rural buses.

That important link between Middlesbrough, the Stokesley area and Northallerton, covered by Abbot’s of Leeming with the X80 is to be withdrawn on November 26 (followed by the 80 in the Spring).

These routes provide a lifeline for regular travellers, a high proportion being pensioners and some who use them as a link between the James Cook and Friarage Hospitals.

There seems to have been a minimum of consultation about these withdrawals; unless the dialogue between passengers and the sympathetic and amiable driver Brian is considered enough.

These closures need a rethink.

Geoffrey Evans, Thornton le Beans