FURIOUS parents are calling for action after children were turned away from school buses and forced to walk miles home alone along a dangerous main road.

Since the start of term the number of buses transporting pupils from Frodsham to Helsby High School has been cut in half, seeing dozens of children being turned away from the oversubscribed buses and being forced to walk home.

Now, after 11-year-old children were left waiting for hours at the bus stop in the pouring rain, concerned parents are calling for action from the school fearing for the safety of their children who they fear are being forced to walk home alone on a ‘dangerous’ and ‘badly lit’ busy road.

Parents have set up a Facebook group calling for the buses to be reinstated, and are meeting with MP for Weaver Vale Graham Evans in an attempt to get the situation sorted before a ‘child gets killed’.

But staff at Helsby High School say they are working hard to ensure the safety of every child at the school, letting the youngest children out of class early and redistributing spaces on buses to make sure no child is stranded and unable to get home.

Nicky Gormally, whose two children attend the school, said she feared an accident would have to happen before the problem was properly sorted out and someone would take responsibility for the chaos.

“The paying bus is getting far too busy and the bus driver isn’t letting the children on,” said Nicky, who explained that last year the school had two double-decker buses on the Springfield Service to Frodsham but this year there was only one.

“My son and around 20 other children had to walk home along a badly lit and dangerous road. Last week one child in Year 7, who had only been at high school for three days, was left waiting at the bus stop until 6pm.

“It is not acceptable, we send our children to school in the morning but there is no guarantee that they will get there or back safely.”

And Sara McMahan, who contacted her MP after her son was turned away from the bus and faced walking 2.9 miles in the pouring rain to near the watersports centre in Frodsham, said it was unfair as the children were being discriminated against as they didn’t have a choice in school since Frodsham High closed down.

“It is just wrong, I do not mind paying for him to get the bus but there is no guarantee that he will safely get on,” said Sara, who said the fare for the bus had even increased by about 40p despite the fact the service had got worse.

“Some young children have been forced to wait hours after school to get public buses but the school office is closed. I am worried that they are standing there alone and something bad will happen to them.”

Helsby High deputy head Steven Capstick, who has been down at the bus stops every night helping children to get home, said the situation was far from perfect but was being resolved on an individual basis.

“I have had meetings with the local authority to try to work around this problem,” said Mr Capstick, who added the school’s hands were tied over the issue.

“We are looking at how all of the children travel and are trying to redistribute them so there are no empty seats on the buses. Currently the situation is not perfect but is slowly getting better and we are trying to resolve some issues on an individual basis.

“We do not let them walk home, if they haven’t got on the bus the children come into the school and we give them access to phones and a safe place to wait to get home.

“This school is part of the community and in the future I am sure we will have to work together to get around these problems.”