Outraged residents say their village will be cut off after it emerged its bus service is set to be slashed.

From Sunday, May 29, the 333 and 334 Arriva routes between Detling and Maidstone will not run after 9.30am. There will be just five stops, down from 24.

Arriva says it’s making the change because the service is not well used and there will also be further cuts to services to and from Sittingbourne.

In place of the service, Kent County Council will provide a Detling Shopper service through the Compaid Trust, stopping three times daily at the village hall in Pilgrims Way.

Jeane Whittaker, 85, of St Martin’s Close, doesn’t drive and uses buses up to three times a week to get to health appointments and meet friends.

She said: “I have seen no notices or leaflets or anything. Everything I’ve heard is through rumours. I lost my husband and I’m on my own so it can be lonely and miserable stuck here on my own.”

There will be five buses travelling towards Maidstone, the last of which leaves the village at 9.07am Mondays to Fridays. There is just one back from the County Town, for schoolchildren, leaving Chequers Bus Station at 4.05pm.

Free travel for passengers over 60 only applies off-peak, from 9.30am until 11pm, but will be valid on the new service.

Nick Harwood, 64, of The Street, said: “I really think it is outrageous to cut a whole village off. It will be a nightmare and mean some elderly people will be essentially housebound.”

The service towards Sittingbourne will be cut to just one bus stopping in The Street per day, at 4.19pm.

Richard Lewis, marketing manager for Arriva, said: “This change is being introduced due to poor usage of the service from Detling and the need for Sittingbourne-bound buses to travel all the way to the M20 interchange and back to get from the village onto the northbound carriageway of the A249, adding a lot of time.

“By removing this diversion, which can also be subject to traffic congestion, we will be able to offer our longer-distance customers a more direct service.”