A concerned commuter fears it is only a matter of time before a child is hurt on an "overcrowded" bus.

Alex Lock, gets the 102 service which goes through Lydd in the Romney Marsh every morning, and says it's "like a tin of sardines".

"The bus at 8am is overcrowded with school kids," he said.

"Every seat is full. Kids are standing on the stairs and all the walkways top and bottom.

"Sometimes I’ve seen kids not been able to get on the bus because there is no room.

"I see children even sitting as groups of threes, squeezing together so they don’t have to stand.

"After going through Lydd I reckon close to 100 students from Marsh Academy got on the bus this morning."

Mr Lock, who works at New Beach Park holiday park in Dymchurch, says he worries about what would happen if the bus was involved in an accident.

"The bus goes across Lydd, straight past the airport, which is a 60mph bit of road and has been proven to be a very dangerous stretch," he said.

"Imagine if the bus had to do an emergency stop, all this kids standing would pile up at the front.

"The children are unaware how dangerous it is so they are running up and down the bus as well, being kids I guess.

"Last year there was multi-death crash on the Lydd straight. I have one work colleague who lost a friend in a separate crash on the road as well."

The 22-year-old says he thinks there should be a separate bus for the schoolchildren.

"Their safety is critical," he said.

"What I’ve seen today was atrocious and someone will get hurt - it’s a matter of time.

"I’ve witnessed this since the kids came off summer holidays. However, I’ve been told it’s been like this for donkeys.

"I would love to see a change. I don’t want to see children getting hurt."

"I dread every morning having to get on the bus and go through Lydd..."

The Camber resident added is also concerned about the lack of social distancing on board if Covid cases rise again in the colder months.

"It’s scary to be honest," he said.

"It’s like a tin of sardines that bus. I dread every morning having to get on the bus and go through Lydd.

"I do believe this has been an ongoing problem which will only be getting worse as more kids are going to secondary school than are leaving.

"As a duty of care I feel like something should be done."

"Overall there is plenty of capacity to carry everyone that needs to travel..."

A spokesperson from Stagecoach said: "We operate three buses in the morning from Lydd to New Romney, specifically to cater for large numbers of school children.

"There are route 102 buses at 7.45am, 8.04am and 8.14am from Lydd Camp.

"Overall there is plenty of capacity to carry everyone that needs to travel.

"We encourage young people to use all of the bus options available."