STUDENTS want to take the bus to school – but can’t get on it.

Children as young as 11 are being left at the side of the road because school buses are too full to pick them up.

Parents of Grammar School pupils were shocked that their children were being left behind, but head teacher Jeff Smith (pictured) said it was timings that were the problem – not overcrowding – and that there were teething problems at the beginning of any term.

Deana Thomson said her 12-year-old son, Tyler, a Year 8 pupil, was left at a bus stop a 15-minute walk from the family home.

‘I think it’s disgusting. He has been stranded twice,’ she said. ‘The bus slowed down and then just carried on going. There were six left at that stop, but I don’t know how many were left at others.’

She was able to drive her son to school but not all parents would be able to do the same. Tyler had to fill in a slip explaining why he was late.