BUS firm Stagecoach has reported a significant improvement on its Swindon services after introducing an emergency timetable.

Commercial director for Swindon and District, Phil Stockley, said new schedules introduced this week were proving far easier to keep to and apart from a few "blips" there had been no major problems.

One of those setbacks occurred when a driver failed to turn up on Monday, leaving the 6 and 7 routes to Kingsdown and Highworth one bus short and causing delays of up to 20 minutes in the morning.

And the number 8 route to Freshbrook suffered the same fate on Tuesday when a different driver failed to show in the morning and the first service at 6.30am was missed.

The new timetable reducing the regularity of the number 6, 7, 8 and 72 to Wroughton buses was introduced on Monday after Mr Stockley admitted the firm is in the midst of a staffing crisis in Swindon.

It is currently 20 drivers short of a full complement of 80 and has been unable to provide a reliable service on the usual timetable.

The company has been inundated with complaints from passengers over recent months and decided an emergency schedule was the best way to improve the situation in the short-term.

Mr Stockley said: "Monday went okay and on Tuesday things were far better than in recent weeks.

"The fact we are now talking about individual incidents rather than a general overall problem is in itself a sign things are getting better.

"The new timetable has helped massively and I'm confident it will work in the short-term now we have to concentrate on making sure we recruit more staff before we go back to the old timetable."

He apologised on Saturday for the poor service offered in recent months and promised they are doing all they can to make sure that, when things do improve, the standard of service will remain high.

Passengers who can prove they have been inconvenienced by recent unreliability can apply for compensation.

The staffing crisis has been blamed on a number of factors including the high employment rate in Swindon and better pay deals in other industries.

Drivers are currently paid between £5.55 and £6 an hour at Stagecoach the same as at Thamesdown Transport, which is only 10 drivers short of a full payroll of 160 and has made no changes to its schedule.

Mr Stockley told the Advertiser the firm has several action plans in place to improve services for good in Swindon.

They include looking into all aspects of its employment package and possibly creating a new post for an operations director to concentrate purely on day-to-day delivery of services.