A dad has hit out at a bus company claiming multiple drivers refused to let his 11-year-old daughter on the bus during her first week at secondary school.

Paul Barkaway, who lives in Dunkirk near Faversham, says he is “deeply unimpressed” by Stagecoach as the vehicle was full and is calling for better provision due to evident “demand”.

Year 7 pupil Amber, who has just started at Canterbury Academy, was unable to get on at the Courtenay Road stop and was waved off by the driver as he whizzed past her on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings - just her third and fourth days at her new school.

Speaking to KentOnline, farm shop owner Paul said the situation has left him unhappy and the response from other local residents has been damning.

“She got to the bus stop in plenty of time but the driver just drove past and waved as if to say it’s full,” he said.

“I’m deeply unimpressed by this, she’s got a bus pass and I expect her to be able to use it.

“It’s knocking her confidence already, two days in a row she’s not been able to board the bus to school within her first week of secondary school.

“Other people in Dunkirk and Boughton are saying it’s a regular occurrence, some parents have even given up buying season tickets because the buses are that unreliable - is that how it should be?”

Amber had been attempting to board the 7.49 am X3 bus from Dunkirk to Canterbury, a route which originally starts in Maidstone before travelling across the county and terminating at Canterbury bus station in St George’s Lane.

After being left at the station on Wednesday, Amber was able to get a lift to school from her mum who had been at home walking the family dog before work.

However, less than eight hours later, Amber was forced to ask her parents to fetch her from the city bus station after she was unable to board the return bus due to capacity limits.

Describing the situation as a whole “a nightmare”, 40-year-old Paul called for the addition of another bus to the timetable - calling it evident the need was there.

“The advice had been to get an earlier or later bus, but the later one can also be full and gets the kids to school late whereas the earlier one will get them there over an hour before school starts,” he added.

“I don’t like the thought of my 11-year-old hanging outside around school for an hour especially in winter when it’s dark.

“There’s clearly a need for an extra service if this happens on a daily basis, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to Stagecoach that there is this demand.”

A Stagecoach student ticket in the Canterbury travel zone is currently priced at £518 and offers unlimited travel on all Stagecoach buses in the Canterbury travel zone between September 1 and July 31.

With the family running their own farm shop, there is an acknowledgement their circumstance offers them flexibility other families don’t have.

But Paul is aware his business will be impacted if he or his wife are forced to continue to do the school run - and he says the change needs to be for all the families affected.

The life-long Kent resident said: “Being self-employed offers us this flexibility but also means it directly impacts our income, it’s not helpful at all when we’re trying to use the bus service to make everything work a bit smoother.

“If the child’s parents aren’t able to drop everything to come give their kid a lift, what happens then? We’re lucky to be able to do that but not everyone can.

"People are paying for a service Stagecoach aren’t providing and our children need to be able to get to school.

“There’s all this talk about car-sharing, encouraging people to use public transport but this treatment just encourages people to do exactly the opposite.”

In his quest to see Stagecoach alter its stance, Mr Barkaway has gone to both his local MP Helen Whately and local Kent County Council representative Rich Lehmann - with both vowing to do what they can to help.

Cllr Lehmann has been a staunch advocate for bus services in the area since his election to the county council in 2021, and he told KentOnline he was keen to see the dynamic shift.

“For the second year running, families and schoolchildren in Boughton and Dunkirk have had the additional stress of travel uncertainty piled on top of the usual stresses that come at the start of a new school year,” he said.

“Stagecoach are not providing enough buses at the times children need them, and despite the fact that prior to Covid they ran two buses through the villages at the optimal time for schoolchildren, they appear to be reluctant to move their timetable back in that direction.

“Instead, they suggest that children take an earlier bus which, depending on the school, arrives in Canterbury up to an hour before the start of the school day.

“This argument fails to take into account the importance of sleep, which is a huge factor in the mental and physical health of teenagers.

“It's a shame that lessons were not learned from the chaos last September and that parents, many of whom have paid hundreds of pounds for a Kent Travel Saver Pass, are left driving their kids into Canterbury because the buses that would get them into Canterbury at the right time are full.”

In response to the criticism, Stagecoach has said it will provide a larger capacity bus as of next week for Boughton and Dunkirk passengers going to Canterbury bus station.

‘There's always a hive of activity at the start of term as we assess school-time travel patterns and bus loadings...’

A spokesperson for the bus company said: "We want everyone that needs to travel to be able to get where they need to be at a time that's most convenient.

“There's always a hive of activity at the start of term as we assess school-time travel patterns and bus loadings.

"At Boughton, we operate three school-time buses in the morning through to Canterbury. The first of these is a double deck bus at 0725 which has plenty of spare capacity. The next bus is at 0742 which is also a double deck, and there's a further double deck bus at 0812.

“Overall, there is enough capacity to carry everyone that needs to travel.

"We recognise the 0742 bus is a busy service, so from next week we will substitute this bus with a slightly larger one to provide some additional capacity for children who need to board at Boughton."