The 374 bus route has been salvaged, it was announced today - but services to Fobbing, Horndon-on-the-Hill and Orsett Hospital will go.

It will include four morning and four afternoon trips both ways between Grays and Basildon, and will take in Chadwell, West and East Tilbury, Coalhouse Fort, Linford, Stanford and Basildon Hospital Monday through Friday, with a limited Saturday service.

The council will still be subsidising the service but the amount of subsidy has been slashed to only £30,000 from £250,000.

The new route was organised by Amber Coaches Ltd., when Managing Director George Webster volunteered to go to the council forum on the issue. 

Councillor Purkiss said: "George Webster at Amber Coaches Ltd did all the front work to make this happen and the residents in East Tilbury and I personally are incredibly grateful to him and his team for making this happen. The service should never have been cut in the first place."

Mr Webster said: “When I heard the 374 bus was being cut, I thought the decision was appalling - and since then I have been doing everything I can to make sure the communities would not be isolated."

Council transport portfolio holder Councillor Oliver Gerrish said: “Amber said that by tweaking the route and trips they hope they can make this route pay.

“The new 374 will be a commercial service reliant on the fares revenue it generates and the council has agreed to provide a small subsidy for the first 12 months.”

Cllr Gerrish added: “Make no mistake, Thurrock Council cannot continue supporting public transport in the same old way as the cuts to our funding bite deeper still.

“We would rather keep all our council services going - however, compromises and innovative solutions need to be found.

“We will continue to make those hard decisions but all the while we'll keep fighting as hard as we can to mitigate the impact on our residents and communities.”