The boss of under-fire bus company Uno defended the firm’s performance when he appeared before councillors last week.

Philip Waters, chairman of Uno, responded to questions from St Albans District council’s local services scrutiny committee and addressed issues raised by passengers about services.

In particular, passengers were concerned about the punctuality of the 653 service, which runs from WGC to St Albans city centre.

Mr Waters explained that Uno had just introduced a new timetable for the 653 service in the hope of getting buses running on time.

The boss also offered to share performance monitoring data on bus times, breakdowns, staff sickness and attendance levels with councillors.

Chair of the scrutiny committee, Cllr Chris White, said: “Uno bus services provide important routes with numerous travel opportunities for local residents and people working in St Albans.

“However, passengers have found that these services are not as reliable as they could be.

“Uno is trying to address this by introducing new timetables.”

Paul Spelzini, coordinator of the Potters Bar and St Albans Transport User Group, was also keen to see improvements and said he was considering writing to the Traffic Commissioner in Cambridge about the service.