PARENTS were left fuming when their children were given detention after a bus service left them stranded.
Furious parents have slammed the Number 6 National Express service in Sutton Coldfield saying late buses and regular cancellations have caused the pupils to be late at school.
Parents have been left furious with their local bus service[/caption]
The situation has caused a desperate mum to set up a WhatsApp group to share her frustration with others dealing with the same problem.
The problem affects students attending Queen Mary’s High and Grammar schools and Bishop Vesey’s, Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls and Sutton Coldfield College in Lichfield Road.
Jan Dewsbery’s daughter travels from Four Oaks to Queen Mary’s High School, told Birmingham Live: “[T]he buses are often cancelled or late. It’s at least once a week and sometimes it is daily.
“She’s 14 and on Friday, September 9, my daughter arrived at Walsall Bus Station at 3.50pm for the 4pm bus to Sutton. But it didn’t come.
READ ON UK NEWS
“And then the 4.30pm bus was 20 minutes late turning up at 4.50pm.
“Then the following Monday on September 12 they were due to get the bus at 7.53am from Edge Hill Road and it failed to turn up. So she came home and got her dad to give her a lift.”
“It took them 45 minutes for a journey which usually takes 20 minutes and she was late, missed her form and got a detention.
“Then to make matters worse her bus home broke down before getting to Aldridge.
Most read in The Sun
The mum, who also takes the bus daily to go to work, said she has raised complaints before but to no avail.
She added: “Back in the summer, we were promised they would get their act together. They said the bus service would improve. If anything it’s got worse.
“The Government want us to use more public transport but how can we when it’s as c*** as this.
“It’s routinely once a week and often daily and from what people have said it’s been going on years.”
A spokesperson for National Express West Midlands said in a statement: “We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to any customers who have experienced delays on their journeys on the 6 service between Sutton Coldfield and Walsall. We are sorry to have let anybody down.
“Various issues have been affecting the punctuality and reliability of some of our services, including the continuing UK-wide difficulties in recruiting bus drivers.
“Our teams continue to work hard to recruit more drivers and get new drivers trained and out in service as quickly as possible.
“Like other road users, our bus services are also affected by congestion and roadworks which can heavily impact on our service reliability and therefore on the level of service we can provide to our customers.
“The week before last some services in Sutton Coldfield were heavily delayed as a result of roadworks in the area.
“National Express West Midlands works closely with the local authorities to minimise disruption during roadworks wherever possible, however some delays are difficult to avoid and we hope our customers will bear with us when services are affected by circumstances out of our control.
Read More on The Sun
“Where we have had occasional vehicle issues and a bus has had to be taken out of service for repair, our garage has sent a replacement vehicle back out into service as soon as possible.
“National Express West Midlands continues to monitor bus services closely and we are doing everything we can to avoid any disruption for our customers. We would urge everybody to check the latest service updates on our social media channels or visit our website: nxbus.co.uk.”
