I RECENTLY experienced my first disappointment with the Askham Bar Park and Ride all-electric bus service.

I lost faith in the Bishopthorpe local service when it failed to turn up twice for my trips to York.

On trips to York during the summer and autumn periods, however, the Park and Ride service has generally been excellent, with regular, quiet and comfortable buses every ten minutes.

Then recently we used P&R on a very cold and rainy day and, for the first time, the queue was big enough to fill two double deckers.

The inward journey was cold with so much condensation you couldn’t see out due to windows closed due to a lack of fresh and warm air.

Our return journey at about 5pm went badly adrift.

At Clifford’s Tower the electronic timetable indicated a bus in eight minutes, with two others ten minutes apart thereafter.

Eight minutes passed and the bus just vanished off the timetable - a work of fiction.

It was bitterly cold and ten minutes later the next bus again just disappeared off the radar with no explanation.

We were waiting for 40 minutes.

The winter months highlight the shortcomings of electric transport - heating, lighting and traffic jams drain the batteries and they struggle to cope.

Keith Massey, Bishopthorpe, York