IT was a grand day out for 16 lucky Chester shoppers as a bus firm took them on a luxury trip to Cheshire Oaks.

Arriva organised the special event to mark the newly extended X4 route, which offers new half-hourly journeys from Mold, Buckley, Broughton and Chester to Cheshire Oaks and Ellesmere Port.

The company treated 16 lucky people from in and around Chester to board an exclusive Arriva bus where they were greeted with a champagne reception, complete with a personalised goody bag, and taken directly to Cheshire Oaks for a complimentary breakfast at Frankie & Benny's.

The winners of the competition were also put into a mystery draw to win £100 worth of vouchers to spend at the designer outlet, where Hayley Moore from Blacon was the lucky recipient.

Hayley said: "When I found out that I had won the vouchers I was ecstatic, it's one thing winning the competition but another to then have some spending money on top of that.

"It's safe to say that I didn't have a penny left to spare by the end of the day and I managed to treat both myself and my partner to some goodies, it really was a great day for us both!"

Connections at the X4 bus service can also be made at Chester to Cheshire Oaks and Ellesmere Port from existing Arriva services throughout Chester, Rhyl, Wrexham, Crewe and Runcorn as part of the network expansion.

Lisa Pearson, head of marketing at Arriva North West and Wales, said: "We wanted to celebrate Arriva's fantastic new connections to Cheshire Oaks and Ellesmere Port and we couldn't think of a better way to do so than with a luxury day out, which we hope our winners thoroughly enjoyed.

"Arriva hopes that the new connections the X4 service now provides will offer shoppers in the Mold and Chester area more shopping and day out options in the run up to Christmas."

While at Cheshire Oaks, members of the Arriva Angels team were also on hand speaking to members of the public about the new service, and treated shoppers to a mixture of goody bags and free day tickets.

  • To find out more about the newly extended X4 service, visit arrivabus.co.uk/wales.