Terrified Sheffield girl, 12, ‘kicked off’ bus by driver one mile away from her school

Jess Ryan-Vernon was furious when she heard her 12-year-old daughter, who suffers from hypersensitivity and is being tested for autism, was ejected from a bus on the way to school on January 22.

The 12-year-old had been collected from Renishaw at 8am by a Linburg school bus and was en route to Eckington School when an altercation broke out.

Jess claims that her daughter was sworn at by a male pupil before being ‘elbowed in the chest’ while trying to enter the bus.

The boy continued to ‘aggravate’ the 12-year-old which resulted in her squirting water at him from a bottle.

“Unfortunately I heard that the driver of the bus, a female, was also splashed with some water,” said Jess.

“My daughter was pointed out by another student and at this point the driver lost her temper and shouted at quite relentlessly.

“Without stopping to establish any further information and evicted her from the bus.

“She has struggled and hasn’t always had friends, so she only just knows how to navigate around her own estate as far as the shop and park goes.

“She was completely inconsolable.”

John Hadaway, director of Linburg, said: “As with all of our operations on home-to-school services we are very alert to both the moral and legal obligations to do everything in our power to maintain the safety of our passengers, our staff and other road users. All are of paramount importance to us.

“In this instance, our driver felt that to allow the individual to continue her journey would have seriously compromised the safety of all of those groups.

“It is not however company policy to permit drivers to eject the passenger from the vehicle without first seeking our guidance and support.

“For this action, the driver has been subject to internal disciplinary action.”

Eckington School banned her from travelling on the bus for two weeks.

The Star has contacted Eckington School for comment.