First Bus have confirmed that they will be withdrawing the 126 bus service from October 9.

The route, which runs between Wells and Weston-super-Mare provides vital transport links for people living in the Cheddar Valley, and there has been outcry at the news that it is to be cut. The Wells Bus Users Group, the Liberal Democrats and Wells MP James Heappey all launched petitions in a bid to save the service.

There had been hopes that with the news that the Government was extending its Covid funding for bus services that the 126 might be given a stay of execution, but it seems that this will not be the case.

On August 19, Mr Heappey posted a Facebook Live in which he put the responsibility for saving the service on to Somerset and North Somerset Council saying: "The County Council have a couple of weeks to work out if they can save it in some way – either though subsidy or by finding another provider.

"Put pressure on your county councillors. It is in the hands of the County Council." And last Friday Mr Heappey delivered his petition, calling for the service to be saved, to Somerset County Council.

Somerset County Council say that they are working to "mitigate the loss", but there are currently no firm plans or solutions.

Lead Member for Transport and Digital, Councillor Mike Rigby, said: "Somerset County Council is examining what it can do to mitigate the loss of the commercial 126 service. While the Government announced two weeks ago that it was extending Covid-era financial support for a further six months, the announcement came too late to countermand the Government's earlier instruction to bus operators to prune their services according to current, reduced usage. As the 126 route is commercial, the Covid-related funding has been paid direct to the operator. We are working with colleagues in North Somerset Council to examine what can be done to mitigate the loss. More soon."