A bus company has been accused of treating its customers with contempt after complaints were made about the Melbourn village service.

Colin Chilvers reported that he was waiting for the 12.19pm 26 Stagecoach bus, which connects Cambridge and Royston, at the village car park stop when, before he realised it, the vehicle passed him without pausing at 12.17pm.

Mr Chilvers, who was forced to wait a further hour for the next bus, said: “I was sheltering from the rain in the bus shelter, and didn’t think it necessary to be visible for the vehicle to stop.

“I think it is diabolical that Stagecoach treat paying passengers with such contempt. I have complained on numerous occasions to the bus company about their unfair treatment to the public, but have never had the courtesy of a reply”.

Local campaigner Clive Porter was passing at the time, and confirmed that the driver failed to stop, even though the bus was actually two minutes ahead of its scheduled time.

“This is a compulsory stop and all drivers should be aware of this,” he said.

“Since the timetable has been adjusted recently I have been aware on several occasions that a number of buses have been leaving the stop a few minutes earlier than scheduled, which is not very fair on passengers.”

A spokesman for Stagecoach buses said: “After looking through our records we can confirm that the driver left the stop in Melbourn one minute early.

“There is no excuse for early running for buses and the operations manager will be interviewing the driver concerned in due course to make sure that in future he adheres to regulation timetables.

“There have been no other incidents of bus drivers leaving their stops early or driving past all together reported to us.

“If anyone wishes to speak to us here at Stagecoach, there is a number on every timetable at bus stops.”