Free bus travel being 'treated like childcare'

A bus driver has claimed free bus travel for children has been treated like childcare this August.

Children aged five to 15 are able to travel on most bus services in England for free, as part of a government scheme, which is due to run until the end of August.

Bus driver Ian from Penkhull said he had been in the job for more than 30 years and had seen more children using the buses as a result of the offer.

"With it being free, I think the parents think we're childcare for them," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "It gets them out the way, doesn't it?"

He added that despite not coming across bad behaviour on his route, unlike some colleagues, it would be a "nice break" for drivers when schools returned in September.

Children aged under 15 in Stoke-on-Trent have recently been banned from travelling alone on buses in the evening due to anti-social behaviour.

One bus user, who also used to work for a bus company, told the BBC he had come across children pressing the emergency stop button, throwing things at drivers and stealing cash from them and verbally abusing some drivers.

Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said he had heard that drivers had been abused and passengers frightened but felt the ban was not the right approach.

"I've got a 12-year-old brother and I think it's a crying shame. I think it's unfair actually, that so many young people in our city are being punished for the actions of a few."

He said the authority was speaking to bus companies about the issue.

First Bus previously said drivers have been told to "exercise their discretion" over whether to allow unaccompanied children onto the bus if there were concerns about their safety.

Simon Mathieson, the firm's regional director for the East and Midlands, said the decision to bring in a ban had been made "regrettably" and the aim was to remove it once the free bus travel offer ends.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.