MANAGERS of a caravan park have stepped in to help save a threatened bus service between Selby and York.

The Number 42 ran on Friday and Saturday nights through Cawood, Wistow, Kelfield, Stillingfleet and Naburn. It was cut when North Yorkshire County Council withdrew funding from the operator, Arriva, but revived after a subsidy appeal by parish councils.

Catherine and Peter Wilkinson, who run Naburn Lock Caravan Park, have now agreed to contribute to a fund to maintain it, along with the parish councils and the Eastern community engagement forum, to keep the Sunday and Bank Holiday services running until October.

Ms Wilkinson said: “I just think the Arriva bus service is excellent and we must continue to keep it with us.

“There’s a need to have this service in and out of the village and also it needs to be available on Sunday and Bank Holidays. We just hope our visitors will support us getting on the bus because they do spend a lot of money when they go into York for the day.”

A six-month pilot scheme to restore the services was launched in 2011, with parish councils underwriting costs along with Arriva and Selby District Council, and it was recently announced the service would run without a parish council contribution from April.

Coun John Cattanach has since worked with the parish councils, Selby District Council’s community forums, and Arriva, to help preserve the service, but said severe weather disruptions between September and January closed Kelfield Ings for more than three weeks, and prevented the parish councils being able to prove that the Sunday and Bank Holiday services could be run on a commercial basis.

Coun Cattanach said: “I’m delighted that the community have placed their faith in me to reach agreement with Arriva for an extension of these extra services into 2013.

“I have to acknowledge the part played by Arriva over those months where floods disrupted the service and they brought in extra buses.

“We are now hoping for a brilliant summer with increasing passenger numbers.

“I am particularly pleased that Peter and Catherine have added their backing with a contribution as that highlights the complete community support for this venture.”