David Davies today responded strongly to a letter he received from the Customer Service Director of Jobcentre Plus regarding the impending closure of the Jobcentre outlet in Monmouth. The letter, which states that the Jobcentre officials are “satisfied” that transport services in the area are “adequate to enable customers… to attend mandatory appointments”, has been rejected by the MP as “woefully inaccurate”. Speaking from Monmouth today, David said, “Everyone who lives in Monmouthshire knows that the public transport network is simply insufficient to meet the demands of people desperately looking for work and relying on their local outlet for assistance. “Jobseekers in Monmouth will be forced to travel across the constituency to Abergavenny or Chepstow, or else they may even have to cross the border to get to Coleford or Ross-on-Wye. As well as the length of time these bus journeys can take, there is also the added financial burden of buying tickets which could see people’s costs skyrocket as they are forced to travel up and down to receive assistance. “It is ludicrous that a town of 80,000 inhabitants will be denied facilities to help its inhabitants find employment and instead they will be further penalised by having to waste time and money on unnecessary travel. Jobcentre Plus should be thinking more about helping the people of Monmouth and less about minimising its costs at the expense of the unemployed”. Buses run from Monmouth to Abergavenny only six times a day, take approximately 50 minutes to reach their destination and charge £2.60 for a single ticket.