A MAN who is set on bringing a 'night bus’ back to Okehampton to meet the new evening trains is taking delivery of his first bus this week.

Former Stagecoach driver and one-time town fireman Rick May is expecting the arrival of his first bus, a second-hand red London double decker, any day now.

He also hopes to buy another bus, to ensure he has a spare when his daily service gets up and running next year, on a date yet to be confirmed.

He has applied to the Department for Transport for his operator’s licence.

When he has that, he will register the route, which is set to link the railway station, the schools and the supermarkets in town with all the main residential areas.

’I have got two passions in life, my two daughters and the buses,’ said Rick, who currently works at Waitrose and is dad to two young daughters.

’The kids come first, obviously, but the buses are a pretty close second.’

A recent crowdfunding campaign towards his service has yielded £300.

’There were a couple of negative comments asking why did I need this money, but that has all been sorted out now,' he said.

He stressed that the £300 which had been raised would go towards running free special services, such as a bus to take people into see the Christmas lights and senior citizens to the war memorial at the parish church on Armistice Day.

Meanwhile, his main service will be a seven days a week passenger service linking all parts of the town. He says the service will help schoolchildren, students and workers alike.

’It will be a service around Okehampton meeting all the trains out of the station from 7.20 in the morning to 10.20 at night, seven days a week using a double decker bus for the service,’ he said.

He added that the last night bus home would ensure people could get home safely from the station to any part of town.

The supermarkets, Waitrose and the Co-op are interested in the bus for their staff to catch at night and it will then run around the town linking in with Kellands Lane when that reopens.

’Everything is almost on track. It might take a little bit longer but I will get there. I am quietly confident,’ he said. ’I’m calling it the ’365 service’ because it will go 365 degrees around the town. I am just sitting on my hands at the moment, I’m itching to start.’