LOCAL people are being left stranded at bus stops between Minehead and Taunton on Mondays and Fridays because of huge numbers of weekend guests travelling to and from Butlin’s.

West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger says he is now receiving complaints from local families whose travel arrangements have been disrupted because their chosen buses have arrived already full to capacity.

And he is demanding First Group lays on extra vehicles to cope with the twice-weekly surge in demand.

Mr Liddell-Grainger says it is 'totally unacceptable' that dozens of local people should be inconvenienced by the inadequacy of the service.

“On one recent Monday morning service the bus was full with the aisle completed occupied by standing passengers by the time it left Williton,” he said.

“There were other people waiting at stops all the way to Taunton but they were simply left standing there. In most cases the driver didn’t even pull up to explain the bus was full.

“These people may have been trying to get to college or anticipating catching a train. It’s totally unacceptable for them to be left by the side of the road just because First Group doesn’t provide enough buses.”

Butlin's responded saying it would be 'very happy' to work with all parties concerned in an attempt to make improvements to the travel infrastructure that would be beneficial to both guests and local residents.

A spokesman for First Bus said: "We have a range of pre-planned and reactive actions that we take to deal with high demand on the 28.

"There is no information available to us that allows us to know how many people are travelling in advance."