Girl is stranded on bus journey home (From Worcester News)

Girl is stranded on bus journey home

9:30am Saturday 9th February 2013 in News

STRANDED SCHOOLGIRL: Lucy Jones was dumped three miles from home when the driver told her to get off the bus.

A TEENAGE schoolgirl was left stranded nearly three miles from home after a bus driver unexpectedly terminated the route.

Lucy Jones, aged 14, had been travelling on the 43 First bus from the Chase High School, Malvern, on a Friday afternoon to her home in Upton-upon-Severn.

However, when the bus pulled up at Welland the driver told Lucy to get off as he was not going into Upton-upon-Severn, leaving her frantically trying to contact her family to pick her up.

First bus company said on the day it had been operating a flood timetable because of high water levels along the route and passengers were being kept up to date through its website and Twitter feed @FirstWyvern.

However, Lucy’s father Mark said that since January’s floods the bus had been coming into the town, but turning around at the fire station and First’s defence was not good enough.

Mr Jones, of Rectory Road, said: “She was upset at being left there on her own after the bus driver told her to get off. She is only 14 and was quite scared really.

“Luckily, she had her mo-bile phone on her and had sent loads of text messages to my phone asking me to pick her up.

“As for checking Twitter, that’s not really good enough because she can’t go on to the internet at school.

“There should have been a sign on the bus or the bus driver should have told her that he was stopping at Welland when she got on the bus so she could have phoned me.”

Lucy’s grandfather Richard Myres closed his butcher’s shop early and took the stricken teenager home.

Lucy’s school said it would be seeking an explanation from First as to why the bus terminated before Upton-upon-Severn.

Kevin Peck, headteacher at the Chase, said: “The school is concerned that one of its female pupils was turned off a public bus late on a winter’s afternoon several miles from her home.”

A First spokesman said: “Depending on where the water level is high along the route, sometimes vehicles have to terminate before the fire station. This was the case on Friday, February 1, and the website and Twitter accounts were updated accordingly.

“The flood timetable for service 43 is still in place, owing to water running down off the mountains and out of the river.”