A TICKET inspector was among those who were left confused by changes to a bus timetable, on a service which passes through stops in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

The Bank Holiday Monday timetable alteration on the 724 Harlow to Heathrow Airport route means that services now leave 20 minutes earlier.

The changes on the route, one of few that link Hertford and Ware with Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, saw passengers waiting more than an hour.

As bemused bus travellers quizzed a ticket inspector on Friday, she admitted that she too had been caught out by the change.

She told one passenger who asked of the change: “I didn’t know either, I was meant to get the 7.40am from Harlow, but I missed it because it went at 7.20am.”

She added: “You’re about the sixth one [passenger] today [to ask about the changes].”

Another passenger said: “The 724 is one of the only ways you can get to Welwyn Garden City from Hertford or Ware, and now they’ve made it a nightmare.

“I missed the old 8am service from Ware, which now leaves at 7.40am and had to wait until 9.09am for the next bus – it’s a joke.

“Not only was I late for work because of this, it’s made future commutes very inconvenient too, at this rate I’ll have to get up at the crack of dawn to get a bus to work.”

No-one from Arriva had come back to us to comment on the changes by the time the WHT went to press.