A TEENAGE girl was left stranded more than 15 miles away from home on three separate occasions when bus drivers refused to accept her Vale council issued bus pass.

The girl's father has said he is furious with New Adventure Travel (NAT) drivers for refusing to let his daughter travel home from school three times since she was issued with the pass.

Jessica Craven, 16, was given a bus pass by the Vale of Glamorgan council in order for her to travel free of charge on the 303 service from her school in Llanwit Major to Cadoxton.

A few days after being given the pass, Jessica was refused entry onto a bus leaving her stranded until her father Gareth could go and pick her up an hour later.

Gareth, 40, said after making a call to NAT, who run Vale of Glamorgan bus services, he was assured that it wouldn't happen again. Then, two weeks later it did happen again and this time it was following an after school revision club, meaning that Jessica was stood alone in the dark with no way of getting home until her father could collect her.

"I was fuming," said Gareth, "I was livid. I couldn't believe they would leave a kid on her own like that."

After a third time, Gareth contacted Vale MP Alun Cairns who shared his outrage. Mr Cairns said: "I am deeply concerned - firstly as a parent and secondly as the local MP. It is outrageous that a 16-year-old girl can be treated with such a shocking attitude despite her paperwork being entirely in order."

He added that he would be writing to NAT and the Vale council to ensure that procedures are put in place to prevent drivers "kicking schoolchildren off buses with no justification".

A spokesman for the Vale of Glamorgan Council said that the bus pass had been issued to ensure Jessica could continue her education after moving to Barry recently, despite the council not being contracted to provide school transport between these areas

Although the pass was initially accepted by drivers, after the council was contacted following the first incident they tried to seek a resolution to the problem.

The spokesman said: "The Vale of Glamorgan Council was of course empathetic and Mr Craven was justifiably upset as most parents would be in this position.

"The council moved swiftly to address the situation, with the transport provider (NAT) agreeing to issue a new pass with the pupil’s photo to avoid a repeat of this situation."

Both the Vale council and NAT say that the problems began when their requests for a photo ID were not responded to and Jessica continued to use her temporary pass. NAT say they have now resolved the issue.

Managing director Kevyn Jones said: "We are aware of the issue regarding the transportation of Mr Craven’s daughter.

"This has come about due to the fact that the young lady in question had not been issued with an NAT bus pass as we had not received a photograph despite requesting one on a number of occasions.

"The bus pass which she was using was a temporary pass issued by the Vale of Glamorgan Council which is no longer valid, therefore our drivers were correct in not accepting that pass as a form of payment to use our bus service.

"We have now been able to obtain the required photograph and a valid pass has been issued, therefore this matter is now resolved”