THE campaign to save Eastleigh's Red Rocket buses has reached full throttle with hundreds of students jumping on board.

The controversial decision to axe the popular service has angered students who rely on the Red Rockets to get to school and college.

With feelings running so high among those at Barton Peveril College, Christopher Wilde and his friends have launched their own petition to stop the cancellation. Determination to keep the service, which serves those living in Eastleigh and Winchester, has also seen a group created on social networking site Facebook, where people can pledge their support for the Red Rockets.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Winchester and Chandler's Ford, Martin Tod, set up the group in addition to his petition that he took to the streets of Eastleigh last week.

He said: "We now have more than 317 people sign our petition to save the buses and we have now launched a Facebook group where more people can back this campaign."

Solent Blue Line announced earlier this month that it had been forced to make cuts to the Red Rocket bus service because of soaring costs.

The cuts will come into force on February 24, resulting in the loss of three Red Rocket services, limiting the travel option for students of Barton Peveril College and Wildern School, Hedge End.

Chris and his friends Gemma White and Amie Chandler felt so strongly about the cuts that they have set up their own petition, taking it to local schools and elderly residents in the area.

So far they have collected more than 250 signatures in the hope that a solution can be found to prevent the cuts which they believe will see students and pensioners left stranded.

Chris said: "We are very concerned about these plans, as it leaves so many of us with limited ways to travel to college. Many people at our college do not possess student bus passes and have to rely on these routes to get them to and from the college with a weekly rocket rider pass.'' Alex Hornby, operations manager at Solent Blue Line, said that the firm deeply regretted having to make the cutbacks which are due to heavy losses caused by rising operating costs.