PARENTS and school staff have been left frightened for their children's safety after they walked home along a dangerous road without a pavement.

The incident happened at Port Talbot's Cefn Season School when the school bus was more than half an hour late.

Staff at the school and parents have called the incident "completely inappropriate".

However, one parent said the bus had been late 16 times since September.

Tonmawr postmaster Tim Bowen, whose 12-year-old daughter Tia uses the bus, said: "It always ran smoothly before.

"Now, it's regularly late.

"The children have been late because the bus shows up late to pick them up, and sometimes because the bus breaks down on the hill.

"Not only is the road they use not safe to walk on because there is no pavement, but the children are being marked as late for school.

"We have had enough now.

"It's an accident waiting to happen."

School admin officer Annette Bond said: "We've been made aware that children have been getting to school late on a number of occasions.

"However, the problems were brought to a head on Monday.

"Parents have grave concerns — and rightly so."

John Flowers, head of transport and engineering for Neath Port Talbot, said he had only just been made aware of Monday's incident.

"We expect more of a bus service than this, for the pupils and for the general public," Mr Flowers said.

"We will be investigating this, and we will talk to the bus company."

Free passes are provided on commercial buses for Cefn Saeson students living in Pontrhydyfen because the route is unsafe.

If they were to walk, children would have to use a route with no pavement for two miles.

A spokeswoman for First Cymru offered apologies for the bus issues, adding: "Due to an unforeseen problem, the bus was 33 minutes late on arrival at the school.

"On realising the bus was running late, we called the council to make them aware the bus was delayed and advised them that this may impact on students.

"Several students were picked up and taken home, however, we understand that some chose not to wait and decided to walk instead.

"We have launched a thorough investigation into what happened."

Regarding habitual lateness and the buses breaking down, the spokeswoman said: "We monitor our services very carefully and take allegations of late running extremely seriously. Our records show, on the majority of occasions, our buses have operated within the traffic commissioner's guidelines, although there have been a few occasions since September when the bus has been more than 10 minutes late."

helen.keates@swwmedia.co.uk