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A company has launched an internal investigation after a group of children were left stranded when a bus took a wrong turn.
Mikaela Freeman's daughter Rozie gets the Arriva 489 service from her home in New Ash Green to Longfield Academy.
The 12-year-old hops on at 7.28am to get to school, a journey which should take around 25 minutes.
Instead, the Year 8 pupil's trip lasted more than two hours after the driver took a wrong turn and the bus load of school children ended up in Gravesend.
The vehicle turned left on Main Road, Longfield, at the junction of Station Road, when it should have gone right, explained Mikaela.
But when the youngsters tried to explain this to the driver, they say he was dismissive and told them he was "taking a different route".
“My daughter was in a real state and panicking because she couldn’t tell me where she was except Gravesend,” said Mikaela.
“I’m outraged this was allowed to happen. At no point was the welfare of these children taken into account by the driver.
“I do not expect to pay the prices we do for a Freedom bus pass for my child to be treated by a driver the way she was.”
It happened last Wednesday.
Mikaela’s other child, who goes to the same school but is in an older year group, got a slightly later bus which arrived at school on time without diversion.
Longfield Academy managed to organise with a group of sixth-form students, who were with Rozie, to get the group to Bluewater on another bus.
From there, the school arranged a minibus to collect them.
They arrived at Longfield at 9.30am, nearly an hour late for school.
Principal Alex O’Donnell praised the sixth formers who stepped in to help.
She said: “I am really pleased a group of our older students looked after the younger ones and we have recognised their kindness in school.
"It is nice to know our students support each other in those situations.”
A statement from Arriva said: “The driver in question was advised of an alternative route around a road closure, and as they were unaware of the full extent of the closure, followed this to Gravesend.
“We are aware of the inconvenience this may have caused to our passengers and we apologise for this.
“As a result an internal investigation is under way to ensure similar issues do not reoccur in future.”
It is not the first time school pupils have been left stranded.
Last month worried parents said some buses were too crowded for their children to get home from school.
Earlier this year parents complained they were paying hundreds of pounds for bus passes while their children were being left stranded.
KMTV asks shoppers: Does Kent offer a good bus service for young people?
