ADDITIONAL buses will run between Minehead and Taunton from next month to cope with the influx of tourists to the Butlins holiday resort.

FirstBus announced this week that it would be providing a new service between Taunton Railway Station and Minehead's Butlins from July 20 to August 31.

A spokesman for the firm said the timetable had been designed to coincide with the check-in and check-out times at the holiday camp and with the arrival of "key train services" at Taunton.

The new service will be in addition to existing services 28 and x28 between the two towns, although the Butlins buses will only operate on Mondays and Fridays and only make one stop - outside Gliddons in Williton.

News of the extra buses will be welcomed by many West Somerset residents who, over the years, have expressed their frustrations in the Free Press letters page over problems caused by the lack of a dedicated Butlins bus service.

They claimed all too often they were forced to stand for the entire journey as there were not enough seats to cope with the number of travellers, while aisles were frequently blocked by luggage.

Several years ago district councillors also waded into the debate and held talks with bus chiefs after being inundated with complaints about lack of seats and blocked aisles on Butlins' changeover days.

Simon Ford, acting regional network planner for First in the South West and Wales said he expected the announcement of the new service to be welcomed by local bus users.

"The new service will operate in additional to the current service 28 and will add additional capacity to the route, which can get very busy during the summer months.

"The service, which is being introduced from July 20, will run until August 31 on Mondays and Fridays and will offer guests at Butlins an easy way of travelling to and from the holiday park by public transport," Mr Ford said.