Parents have expressed their 'disgust' as students face delays, cancellations and breakdowns on their way to a Suffolk sixth form.
Students who travel by bus to and from One Sixth Form College in Ipswich have been left significantly late to lessons or getting home, or in some cases being left stranded, after busses broke down and no replacement was organised.
A spokesperson for the college said: “Please rest assured that the transport team and senior leaders at the sixth form are actively working with the provider of this service (Zeelo who monitor the App related to this service and the operator Go East who provide the bus service) to seek comfort from the providers that immediate solutions to the issues are being sought.
"We would like to apologise to anyone affected by this and reassure them that we are working with the external companies to ensure that robust plans are put in place to rectify this situation immediately.”
The issues were flagged from students who live in Harwich, Essex, where they have faced problems with their travel nearly every day since the school year began last week.
Jardine Macrae, whose son Liam Bretton attends the school, has said that the stress of the situation has made him reconsider choosing the school.
Miss Macrae said: "It has been a complete nightmare for my son.
"Every day from September 3 to this Monday, the bus has been significantly late, resulting in my son being late for every morning class.
"The bus broke down on Thursday, September 4, in Manningtree and after an hour of waiting around for a replacement service that didn't arrive, some of the children got on the train at Manningtree to get home.
"My son didn't have his wallet that day so continued to wait and didn't get in until nearly 7pm."
According to Miss Macrae, neither the school or the operator of the busses, nor Zeelo which monitors the app and customer support relating to the service, have offered any reimbursement for the tickets.
"I have complained to Zeelo and received no reply," she said.
"We paid £1050 for this service this year and if this is what is to be expected then quite frankly I'm disgusted."
An online story and article carried on the East Anglian Daily Times on Thursday, September 12, in regards to a bus service running to Suffolk One used a photograph incorrectly relating to the company Zeelo.
We would be happy to clarify Zeelo provides technology (mobile apps) and services (customer support), but does not provide the operational delivery (buses) for the college.
We sincerely apologise for our error.
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