CITY council bosses are putting an extra £5,000 into a bus service for villages south of York, after the company running it pulled out.

Now senior City of York councillor Peter Dew has agreed to pay an extra £5,000 to subsidise the number 18 bus route for Elvington, Wheldrake and villages on to Holme on Spalding Moor.

The move came after East Yorkshire Motor Services announced that it would be cutting the service as, despite £20,000 in subsidies from councils last year, it could not make the service pay.

At a meeting on Thursday, Cllr Dew agreed to a three month temporary solution that will see City of York put in an extra £5,000 to to keep a reduced service running until August 8.

At a public decision session, transport manager Andrew Bradley told Cllr Dew that two different bus companies had bid for the work - with the cheapest quote coming in at £8,625.

The bus route serves villages in both the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire and Mr Bradley said those councils had agreed to put in £1,925 between them leaving City of York to find £5,000 on top of its existing subsidy.

The temporary service will include one peak time journey in each direction between Holme on Spalding Moor and York.

Wheldrake councillor Suzie Mercer said that, while she welcomed the move, the short term fix left out the popular and well-used Friday and Saturday evening services from the villages into York.

Cllr Mercer said: "It is generally a very well supported service, probably one of the only ones that does pay for itself."

Under the deal agreed on Thursday, transport staff at City of York will now run a full procurement exercise to plan for the service's long term future.