Rossendale bus pass girl, 12, left stranded (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Rossendale bus pass girl, 12, left stranded

10:08am Tuesday 12th April 2011 in Whitworth By Vanessa Cornall, Crime reporter

A TWELVE-year-old girl missed a day’s schooling because four bus drivers refused to accept her bus pass.

Now dad Lee Wilkinson, 40, says the companies failed their duty of care towards his daughter Lucy, when they left her standing at the roadside.

And he fears other Rossendale youngsters could be also be affected following a public transport shake-up.

Lucy catches the 464 or 446 buses daily from the Union Street bus stop in Market Street, Whitworth to Oulder Hill High School, Rochdale, with her 15-year-old brother Ben.

Until April 3, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport, now rebranded as Transport for Greater Manchester, had a special understanding with Rossendale which allowed GMPT passes to be used on their buses from as far afield as Bacup.

But a change in the rules now leaves Lucy’s month- long bus pass defunct despite her only buying it two weeks ago.

Mr Wilkinson said: “Both bus operators have failed their duty of care to my daughter. They left a 12-year-old girl in school uniform by the side of the road.

She missed a full day of school because myself and my wife had already set off to work.

“Lucy tried using the pass on four separate buses after we contacted Rossendale Transport to see what was happening.

“We were told she could still use the pass for a month, but none of the bus drivers would accept it.”

Ben was able to get on the bus as he had a different pass issued by Lancashire County Council.

Mr Wilkinson is now looking to move Lucy to Whitworth High School after the boundary changes mean it could cost £100 a month in bus passes to get her to school.

A spokesman for Rossendale Transport said: “We are aware of this matter and we are dealing with this internally.

“We are unable to comment on the bus pass issue as it was not our decision.”

A spokesman from Transport for Greater Manchester said: “I would urge the family to contact us if they have not already done so so we can look into the incident more closely.

“We can be contacted at customer.relations@tfgm.com or by calling 0161 244 1000 and asking for customer services.”