A HAMPSHIRE bus company is to suspend all services to protect it’s staff and their families during the Coronavirus crisis.

Eastleigh based bus firm, Xelabus will suspend all remaining bus services after Saturday, March 28.

The decision has been made this week after passenger numbers on all of the companies services plummeted by 90 per cent following governments advice for everyone to stay home and not use public transport.

Gareth Blair, Managing Director said “ The situation the whole country is facing is totally unprecedented.

"As a commercial organisation the majority of Xelabus revenue is generated from fare paying customers travelling across our services to get to school, college, shopping or commuting.

"We are working closely with the local authorities to ensure our services can be restarted as soon as it is advised to do so.

"A number of our employees have opted to volunteer to help the NHS and we are truly proud of those as we are all our staff who have been working tirelessly on the frontline over the past week.”

Bus services that will be suspended will include the X4 Hedge End to Eastleigh, X6/7 Chandlers Ford to Eastleigh, X9 Eastleigh to Bishops Waltham, X10 Bishops Waltham to Southampton, X11 Lordshill to City Centre.

In Southampton, Bluestar are to make further reductions to their timetables from Monday, March 30.

The revised timetables which are available on the firm's website are still based on a Sunday service.

But there is a reduction in daytime frequencies and key worker journeys are protected.