First are upset that they weren't given advance warning of what would be involved in the road management scheme leading to some bus stops not being served as drivers were forced to make up their own routes.

When asked about this a spokeperson for First said: "Ongoing closures in Bellshill town centre are currently affecting our 201 service, which operates between East Kilbride and Airdrie.

"When heading towards Airdrie, buses are diverting via Hamilton Road, Crossgates, Motherwell Road and Main Street in order to serve the busy North Road bus stop.

"We support the ultimate aims of these works, which will hopefully lead to a better flow of traffic through Bellshill. Unfortunately the closure of certain roads before other work has been completed, has meant that services have been disrupted at times.

"However, we will continue to monitor these works in order to minimise disruption to our customers who are our priority at all times.

"We liaise regularly with the councils in our operating area to ensure that we know of any works that may affect the operation of our services."

However, a letter from First management to their SPT counterparts obtained by the Times & Speaker is less supportive of the project, claiming there was no liaison and the whole structure of the plans were flawed.

It said: "Buses had to start operating via Belvidere Road which wasn't suitable but this was a result of the almost complete lack of advance notification for the different elements of these works and the lack of consideration for the bus network.

"This has caused considerable inconvenience to passengers in the Bellshill area as on the last two sets of works we received no notification for closures which required diversions and meant main stops in the town centre were left unserved.

"One of the main elements of this scheme is to make Hamilton Road two way and if this had been done first then all the other works could have taken place with little effect on the bus network and the travelling public.

"Whilst North Lanarkshire Council or SPT are not obliged to consult us on such works, they do at least need to tell us what is happening."

The council's traffic and transportation team leader Tom Peebles says First were told exactly what was happening.

He said: "North Lanarkshire Council will always inform relevant bodies of planned roadworks in the area.

"Those bodies include Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which in turn would notify local bus companies of forthcoming disruption.

"In this case, however, due to the complexity of the works planned for Bellshill, we also informed First Bus directly about the planned works and the diversion routes that were to be put in place."