A WREXHAM parent has criticised a bus company after she was forced to fork out £300 up front for a bus pass for her daughter because she lives in Wales.

Allison Roach from Gresford said she decided to get an Arriva Bus pass for her daughter for her journey to and from Darland High School in Rossett, where she is in year seven.

She opted for an Arriva Bus pass rather than a school bus pass as it could also be used if, for example, she needed a later bus after attending school clubs or if she wanted to use it at weekends and during school holidays too. There would also be a choice of a number of buses should she ever miss one.

The Arriva Bus annual bus pass seemed like the perfect solution, but when she contacted Arriva Bus and tried to set up a direct debit she was told this wouldn't be possible because she lived in Wales.

This meant that if she still wanted to save money over the course of the school year then she would have to pay the whole amount upfront.

Her only other options were to pay more over the course of a year by buying weekly or monthly passes.

Stressful situation

Allison said that to add to the stress of this situation, her daughter and several friends had not been able to get on a bus to school last week due to either the buses being full and so driving past them or being told by a bus driver on one day that the bus was full and running late and so they'd have to get off, when they could clearly see empty seats.

Allison said: "I have ended up having to pay for an annual pass for her because she needed it. Initially, I was told I could pay by direct debit but it was only when I went to buy the annual pass that Arriva said they don't offer the same service in Wales at present as they do for the rest of the network. They don't do direct debits in Wales.

"They told me about different passes you can get but the annual pass is the best way to do it. Buying a weekly or monthly pass is a lot more expensive. For families with a number of children in high school, it does make a huge dent in your finances. Surely, in this day and age, setting up a service for people wanting to pay by direct debit is not a difficult thing to do.

"I have only got one child but for people with two or three children who need to use the bus then just think of the outlay there.

"You can't spread the cost out like you can if you live in England. And this cost is added on to the cost of things like school uniform and school dinners."

Allison said that a friend had had to pay out £600 for her two daughters to get a bus pass for their journeys to and from secondary school.

Full buses

Speaking last week, Allison added: "My daughter and three of her friends have had to have a lift every day this week to school, as every bus has driven past them due to being full. The only one they managed to get on yesterday, despite there being seats beyond a group of boys standing in the aisle the driver made them get off as he said there wasn’t room and he was late!

"I understand a lot of children have been late to school because of this and like myself, many parents are having to go and collect children from the bus stop and take them down to school to avoid them being late!"

An Arriva Bus spokesperson said: "This is under constant review, we always strive to deliver best ticket and payment options for our passengers.

"Whilst a direct debit payment option is not currently available for Arriva Wales, due to the requirements and processes within our different business areas, it may be introduced in the future. We’ll ensure our customers are kept up to date on this."

In relation to the complaint about buses being full, the Arriva Bus spokesperson added: "We are operating the maximum number of vehicles we can with driving resource currently. The services are also still operating with reduced capacity in line with government guidance.

"There is also an additional coach operating to assist. If the buses are too busy please try and use an earlier service which will be not as busy."