Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Bus campaigner hoping for royal seal of approval after writing to Duke of Rothesay over cuts plan

Prince Charles strolls around Caithness
Prince Charles strolls around Caithness

A resident from John O’Groats has written to the Duke of Rothesay following plans to abolish direct bus services to several villages in the north.

Mark Gibson, Secretary of the Dunnett and Canisbay Community Council, sent a letter to Prince Charles to bring to his attention the impact the proposal by transport operator Stagecoach will have on local residents and tourists in John O’Groats and Gills Bay.

Mr Gibson, 51, has also sent emails to every MP and MSP in the region, while his wife Carole Whittaker, also a community councillor for the area, sent a letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The number 77 currently retains connections with the Pentland Firth ferry crossings and John O’Groats however, following the proposed revision of the service the northbound journey will begin and end at Keiss, withdrawing direct services to the village.

Residents travelling to north east village will have to swap buses at Wick and travel to Castletown, more than 15 miles in the opposite direction, before catching the number 80 service to John O’Groats; adding more than 13 miles onto their journey.

Mr Gibson said: “I have written to just about everyone else. I just thought he ought to know. He is very involved with the Castle of Mey, which is not very far away from here and he is a big advocate to this part of the Mey Highland Games.  No-one is going to be able to get transport to the Mey Games via Wick.

“We are extremely annoyed about the changes that are being proposed to the bus timetable; it makes no sense what so ever.

“This service is a lifeline for people. Not everyone is fortunate to have their own private transport to get to use basic facilities like getting to the dentist, the hospital and the bank.”

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach North Scotland said: “We understand the importance of local bus services within Caithness and Orkney. The reality is that we have duty to our employees and customers to operate a stable and sustainable business – in order to do this, while we operate a number of routes which do not generate a profit, overall our network must be financially sustainable over the long term.

“Unfortunately the Gills Bay section of Service 77 carried an average of less than one passenger per trip – most people would agree that this is simply not sustainable for any business. Therefore, unfortunately we had to make a change.”

A spokeswoman at Clarence House said the issue was not something Prince Charles could comment on at this time.