A FATHER whose two daughters were left stranded for more than three hours in a remote North Yorkshire village has hit out at their school.

Boroughbridge High School was forced to close on Monday after a gas leak which meant pupils had to be sent home.

Among them were 14-year-old Rebecca Allinson and her sister, Kimberley, 12, who got on a school bus to Helperby.

But their dad, Graham Allinson, claims no one called him to let him know about the situation.

The result was his daughters and their friend, 13-year-old Olivia Driffield, were left stranded in the tiny village for three-and-a-half hours until they were collected at the normal time at about 4pm on Monday.

None of the girls had a mobile phone and so they were unable to phone their parents to let them know what had happened.

As a result, all three spent the afternoon standing out in the open in freezing temperatures.

Mr Allinson said: "I am absolutely livid with the school. I can't believe they can just do this and think they can get away with it. I hate to think what could have happened to the girls, knowing how cold it is at the moment.

"The school goes on about health and safety and then they go and pull a trick like this - it's appalling.

"As far as I'm concerned the school is responsible for the care and well-being of my children between 9am and 3.45pm on a school day. They have a duty of care and they totally lapsed."

Mr Allinson said he had tried calling the school repeatedly to get an explanation for what happened, but could only get a recorded phone message saying the school was closed due to a gas leak and not due to reopen until today.

Mr Allinson, who lives in Raskelf, said he could have easily gone and picked the girls up on Monday if someone had simply let him know.

The Press tried to contact Boroughbridge High School, but was met with the same recorded message.

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "As a county council we take the care of our children extremely seriously and we will be taking this matter up with the school as soon as we are able."