A BUS company has apologised after children on their way to school were accidentally left at a bus stop in freezing weather following flooding.

The incident involved a number of Tadcaster Grammar School pupils from Bishopthorpe, who are taken each day to school by York Pullman Bus Company Ltd, of Rufforth.

Sue Linfoot, the mother of 12-year-old Charlotte Jones, said her daughter was picked up as usual on Tuesday’s frosty morning, but when they got to Copmanthorpe to pick up more pupils, she and her friends were told to get off by the driver, who left them there.

“These children were left out in the freezing cold, not knowing what was going on or what to do,” she said.

She said fortunately, her daughter had a mobile phone and called her. “I went to pick up my daughter and her friends and they could not feel their hands and feet,” she said.

She said another pupil had walked back to Bishopthorpe and been “blue” by the time he arrived. “There are child protection and duty of care issues,” she said.

Tom James, Pullman’s managing director, said a double decker intended to transport the children had been delayed by floods and would have been at least half an hour late.

Another double-decker had been swapped to cover the route, which already had some passengers on board. “The driver was instructed by the office to drop the passengers at the second stop after Copmanthorpe Motors,” he said.

“A replacement single-deck vehicle was sent to collect those passengers and continue with the remainder of the route.

“The replacement vehicle collected passengers at the agreed stop, but it became clear afterwards that these were just the passengers normally at that stop and the other bus had dropped off at the stop before in error and against the instructions provided by our office. The driver concerned failed to carry out his duties as instructed, which the company is dealing with in accordance with our disciplinary procedures.

“I would like to repeat our sincere apologies for this incident.

“We transport nearly 2,000 pupils from home to school every day and take our responsibilities very seriously.

“Unfortunately, a number of issues including human error served to cause this very unfortunate incident.”

City of York Council said it had discussed the incident with the bus company, which had apologised for the error.