Residents whose lives are already blighted by heavy traffic could be the saviour of a threatened bus company based in Worthing.

Compass Travel needs a new site to park its vehicles after Worthing planners issued a three-month deadline in April for the independent firm to move from Park Road, Worthing, where residents have suffered continual disturbance.

Now the company, which runs 19 minibuses, is hoping to relocate to a light industrial estate in Faraday Close, near the Tesco superstore, where neighbouring residents are already experiencing heavy traffic.

Retired civil servant Henry Duval, 69, of Whitebeam Road, which faces the entrance to Faraday Close, said: "At the moment, there are lorries coming here all night long. A bus depot would not make much difference.

"The lorries are allowed night working and it's like living next to a railway.

"A bus depot would add a bit to the noise but if Compass works to a schedule, stopping before 7pm, it will not be too bad."

Mother-of-two Michelle Roberts, 34, also of Whitebeam Road, agreed the traffic congestion near her home could not get much worse but did not want Compass in Faraday Close.

She said: "It is going to be dangerous for the children. This is a 30mph area but motorists use it as a racetrack as it is.

"I'm opposed to a new depot. There will be more and more congestion and fumes."

Compass' managing director Chris Chatfield said his company, which takes about 500 children to school, has been unsuccessfully searching for an alternative to the Park Road depot for months, including a site near West Worthing station.

Mr Chatfield said: "It's hard to find somewhere suitable which is not going to be disruptive.

"People look at the worst case scenario - we do not want to cause problems. They think we will be running all day and all night and that is not the case."

Compass's application for a depot at Faraday Road could come before Worthing planners in early July.