STUDENTS at a secondary school have repeatedly been left stranded both on the way to school and at home time due to their school bus reaching capacity ‘within minutes’.

Netherwood Academy students travelling from Thurnscoe, Great Houghton, Middlecliffe and Darfield have been left at the bus stop in the mornings or left at school in the afternoons due to the 449 school bus service, operated by Powells Bus Company, reaching its capacity of 87.

Students that are unable to get on the 449 bus home are left to walk to Wombwell and catch a service bus to Darfield, and for those who live beyond, catch a further bus to Middlewood, Great Houghton and Thurnscoe.

Several parents have contacted the Chronicle outraged at the situation.

One parent, Kirsty Helm, of High Street, Great Houghton, said: “There is one bus that is sent to collect children from four villages.

“My son George is 11-years-old and he has been left at the bus stop because the bus drives straight past him in the morning because it is full.

“After school is as bad, because the older children will make sure they get on the bus and there is a man who stands on the bus and counts the number of people who get on. Once the bus is full, the doors close.

“I’ve had to send family members to go and pick him up from school because he is too young to walk into Wombwell and catch a service bus.”

Another parent, Gemma Miller, of Mary Street, Middlecliffe, said: “My son Corey, 13, has been left at the bus stop in the morning so I have had no choice but to take him to school.

“I then have to come back to Middlecliffe to drop my son Caiden at primary school and then travel to work in Chapeltown.

“It’s unacceptable.”

A spokesman from Powells Bus Company said: “We are not contracted by Netherwood Academy, Barnsley Council LEA or South Yorkshire Transport Executive. The school will have been aware about the number of students who require the 449 service and it is up to them to ensure that the students are able to get there especially if they have included these areas as a catchment.”

Little Houghton Parish Coun Kevin Osborne said: “I am disappointed to learn that the Powells Bus 449 service between Thurnscoe and Netherwood School seems to be providing the same poor service to the school children of Middlecliffe and Little Houghton that the previous supplier offered earlier this year.

“It cannot be right that a child’s first experience of independently using public transport is to watch an aged overcrowded bus drive through Great Houghton and Middlecliffe without stopping or find that there is not enough capacity on the service to allow them to get home safely.

“I urge all those responsible for this chaos to resolve the matter as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for Netherwood said: “We are currently exploring with Powells ways to resolve the problems around all students being able to get on the bus in the morning and after school. In the meantime, the school mini bus is collecting students and dropping them off after school as we work to find a longer term solution.”