A MUM has hit out after her four-year-old daughter was stopped from getting on a school bus.

Louise Milner, 31, of Burdyke, Clifton, York, said her four-year-old daughter, Jessica, was prevented from boarding a First York 22A bus yesterday, because the driver insisted that an adult travelled with her.

Mrs Milner, who had been up all night suffering from a stomach bug, explained to the driver she was putting Jessica on with her nine-year-old brother, Joe, but said the driver would not budge.

She said: "I have been taking Jessica on the bus every morning since she started school in September, but she always comes home without an adult.

"This is the first time we have ever had this situation and it's totally ridiculous. It's supposed to be a school bus and they refuse to take kids on. Jessica was heart-broken when she was told she couldn't go to school."

This is the latest incident in a long-running row over the bus which takes youngsters to and from St Wilfrid's School, in Monkgate.

In September, The Press reported how Mrs Milner and another mum, Alison Scott, who both live in Clifton, complained about the standard of the bus service.

The pair got in touch with The Press after we reported the school bus driver had failed to stop to let children off at their normal stop, in Crichton Avenue.

Then another mum, Michaela Headon, said her youngsters, ten-year-old Kaitlynn and Joshua, seven, were on a bus with eight other children on the way home and the driver carried on, eventually stopping outside Canon Lee School, in Water Lane, and told the children to "get off".

Kaitlynn was left to shepherd the other children, some as young as four, along busy main roads back to their usual drop-off point.

Mrs Scott, whose eight-year-old son, Fraser, uses the bus, said she had raised concerns with the school and City of York Council in July when she found out the contract had changed hands. She said the driver was different every day and the public could get on the bus, which was used by children as young as four.

Peter Edwards, First York's commercial director, said First was due to hand that bus contract to another firm on February 21.

He said: "Safety is our primary concern and I'm not necessarily comfortable with a child of that age travelling unaccompanied on our buses. I'm sorry for what happened to this lady and if she has a complaint she should contact our customer services team."