Bus passengers have been left puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of York bus shelters.

Dave Pearson, of City of York Council, with an emergency bus shelter in Bishopthorpe road, York

Across the city steel shelters have vanished, and at two site the bus stop signs have also gone.

The disappearances follow a mix-up between City of York Council and shelter provider Adshel.

This caused four shelters to be removed in Fulford Road and Bishopthorpe Road. No replacements were put in their place.

On one occasion a driver was so bemused by the removal, he failed to stop.

Irene Greaves, chairman of the Clementhorpe Residents' Association, said: "People have been complaining about the fact that one minute the shelters are there, and the next they have just disappeared.

"A friend of mine went to one stop and saw the shelter wasn't there, so she walked to the next one and found it had been taken from there as well. When the bus came she put out her hand and it went straight past."

The confusion happened after Adshel, which currently provides 19 shelters in the city, lost the contract to continue the provision.

Bill Wooley, the council's assistant director of environment and development services, said: "We served notice on Adshel that we were terminating arrangements with them and we asked them to remove their bus shelters, but to give us details on when they were doing it so it could be tied in with the provision of new ones. But they have come and started to do it without letting us know."

The council was today replacing bus stop signs in Bishopthorpe Road. The shelters will be replaced as soon as possible.

Steve Bradbury, regional general manager at Adshel, said: "The council asked us to remove the shelters and we wrote to tell them we could commence doing that on May 11.

They then contacted us and told us to stop because they weren't ready to replace them.

"We want to be co-operative and we did stop, but the council had been informed of when the work would start.

"When they tell us they want us to resume work again, then we will be more than happy to do that."

see COMMENT 'Transport turmoil'

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