THERE will be no immediate change to a bus service as a key route has to go back out to tender.

Major changes to the county's bus services come into force today, with a number of routes stopping service because subsidies have been cut.

Dorset County Council identified seven key town-to-town routes that it would continue to subsidise.

One of these, the X12/187 service between Blandford and Dorchester, was awarded to First Hampshire and Dorset.

But last week the council revealed a 'technical inconsistency' was found in the way the tenders had been assessed.

As a result, the council contacted First and other companies to say it was withdrawing the contract and will re-run the tender process over the coming weeks.

In the meantime, the current operator, Go South Coast (Damory), has agreed to continue to run the existing X12/187 service on the same timetable until the new contract has been awarded.