Bus company bosses have apologised to a schoolgirl after one of their drivers refused to let her on the bus because she didn’t have the correct change.

Caitlyn Dunn had a £2 coin to pay the £1.75 fare for her journey from her home in Chatham to Fort Pitt Grammar School.

But when she tried to board the Arriva 177 bus at her usual stop in Walderslade Road, the driver told her she could not get on as he had no change.

Caitlyn, 14, said: “I told him not to worry about the 25p change as I had my return fare so didn’t need it, but he still said it didn’t matter, if he couldn’t give me a ticket, he couldn’t let me on the bus.”

The teenager asked the driver why, as another driver had allowed her to do that before, but he still refused to let her on.

“I was fuming. I was not happy about her having to cross the busy road to get the other bus. This should never have happened” - Mum Heidi

Worried about being late for school, she walked to another stop to get the 176 service to Chatham instead.

Caitlyn, of Dunkirk Drive, said: “The female driver just took the £2 coin from me and gave me a ticket. She had no change either, but I said she could keep the change and I got on the bus and sat down.”

Mum Heidi was furious when she heard what had happened and contacted Arriva to complain.

She said: “I was fuming. I was not happy about her having to cross the busy road to get the other bus. This should never have happened.”

Arriva marketing director Simon Baxter said: “We are really sorry this has happened.

“We are currently tracing the driver and are investigating what did happen.

“This is not our policy and we even have a system in place when a child has not got the correct fare when they can fill in a form with their details, it is like an IOU system, and they can still board the bus. We have a responsibility to our passengers, especially our younger ones.

“To make up for what happened, we are contacting Caitlyn’s mum to see if we can offer a free week’s travel and we will continue to look into why it happened. She had a horrible journey that morning and it should not have happened.”