Buses idling on major Sheffield road making life a misery, says angry resident

Paul Gwiazda says 20 buses an hour use the stop outside his Handsworth Road flat, all of which stand at the Richmond Road junction for several minutes causing noise and pollution.

Paul said he first complained about the problem two years ago, but despite contacting the bus companies, the passenger transport authority and his MP Clive Betts, he says he has ‘got nowhere’.

He said: “The noise and the pollution is just unbearable and since the lockdown began it has got worse.

“It is a laying up stop but they have hardly got any passengers at the moment so they just stand there for up to five minutes

“When I complained to a driver recently he told me I should go and live somewhere else.”

Paul said the problems are being caused by drivers from all three companies - First, Stagecoach and TM Travel - and that he thinks a place three stops away would make a better laying up spot for them.

He added: “When I complained I got an email from one company saying the bus stop was older than the flats. Like that gives them the right to idle and pollute our area with noise and fumes.

“Just around the corner parents from St Joseph’s are being fined up to £200 for idling yet the bus companies of Sheffield are getting away with it.”

Spokespeople for Stagecoach and First said drivers were given strict instructions on idling and that many of their vehicles were now fitted with stop-start technology to prevent it.

A South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive spokesperson said: “South Yorkshire’s bus companies provide instructions to their drivers to switch off their engines when waiting, and vinyl posters at bus stops remind drivers to avoid idling.

“More buses now also have start-stop technology. It is a legal requirement for all bus services to have timing points at least every 15 minutes.

“The stop on Handsworth Road has been used as a timing point for many years and there are no plans to relocate this.”