YOU wait years for a bus stop to come along - then two arrive at once.

Householders near the Trumpet Major pub in Dorchester, having complained about a lack of bus stops in the area, are now enjoying two just 100 yards apart.

And Dorset County Council's transport team has announced it is putting up a third, just a few hundred yards down the road.

Coun Trevor Jones wrote to council director of environmental services Miles Butler complaining: "Two outward-bound stops have been erected just 100 yards apart, one in a sensible place, one not. How has this happened?"

The stops, on the route from Dorchester to Bovington, Wareham and Crossways, are opposite Sandringham Court on Alington Avenue, near Friars Close.

Mr Jones suggested it would be 'beneficial' to move the easterly stop to Max Gate for passengers living on the Syward and Came estates.

But council transportation manager Tim Westwood said the move to install two bus stops was deliberate.

He said: "The first one serves elderly folk at Sandringham Court. This is mainly used by passengers getting off the bus. People don't want to travel to a further 120 yards eastward - they want to get off there."

He said the second stop was put in after a request from bus operator First and was so successful in its first week that it would be retained.

Mr Westwood said: "So what if there are two stops? It makes sense to allow people to get off where they want. Passengers can now tell the driver precisely where they want to get off."

And he said the council agreed with Mr Jones' proposal for another stop near Max Gate and would be installing one at Syward Road in the near future.

A spokesman for First said: "We can confirm that 120 people got off at the new Trumpet Major stop in the first week. We were happy with one stop but if it's felt locally that two are needed, then that is fine."