Users of a vital north Norfolk bus route urged transport bosses not to slash its winter timetable as the service faces a £150,000 cut to its funding.

The popular Coasthopper service, which carries 500,000 people annually between King's Lynn and Cromer, has been running since 1999 and receives an annual subsidy from Norfolk County Council.

But the authority is now proposing to slash £75,000 from its £225,000 subsidy in each of the next two years, in a bid to help plug the council's £189m funding gap.

Transport chiefs have stressed that a good Coasthopper service could continue to run but changes would likely have to be made to its winter timetable, with the route possibly being cut from a half hourly to an hourly - or even two hourly - service.

Speaking at a meeting for residents that use the Coasthopper in and around Sheringham, Tracy Jessop, assistant director of travel and transport at the county council, stressed these were only possibilities, but said she could not guarantee what kind of winter service would come out of the ongoing consultation.

'The route is safe for the summer with the existing frequency of every half hour. The thing we would need to look at is what the winter service looks like, because the likelihood is we would effectively pay just for that winter service,' she added.

'We're probably looking at an hourly (service) but possibly two hourly.'

Residents at yesterday's busy meeting were strongly against the suggestion of a two hour service, with some saying it could put passengers off using Coasthopper altogether.

Others raised concerns that it would be difficult to get to hospital and doctors appointments in daylight hours, while some said it could have an impact on their commute to work.

Ms Jessop vowed to take their views into consideration and stressed the Coasthopper was 'safe' but explained that it had now become so popular that the council felt it was capable of being run as a commercial enterprise, without such a high subsidy.

She said: 'It would be inconceivable that a service like Coasthopper was stopped. The main issue is how it runs.

'The county council pays a significant amount of money to run that service and quite simply, we believe we don't have to put that amount of money in because it could be run as a commercial business, and that conversation is being carried out with the operator.'

A further consultation meeting about Coasthopper is being held at Hunstanton Community Centre on November 27 from 4pm - 5.30pm.