Having read the previous complaint about the 423 school bus, I would like to add this to it.

Since Monday, October 10 there has not been a 423 school bus running from the Fleet Estate to Wilmington in neither the morning nor the evening.

Having enquired to the bus company about this they merely said that it was due to the lack of people getting it, the amount of traffic, and roadworks near to the garage so that the bus could not be deported in the mornings.

However, the double-decker bus still managed to get out and come up from Darenth. It was so busy and I had no choice but to stand right next to the driver and the doors which is dangerous. Either that or I had to go upstairs and run the risk of being spat on and having things thrown at me by the people up there.

I was hoping this would improve in the evening, but it got to Wednesday evening, and things were no better.

My friend got spat on during the journey home and then another girl came down from the top level and started shouting abuse at us before she got off.

Thursday morning, the double-decker came late to the Fleet Estate and at one point there were over 130 people for an 81-person bus. This was not only illegal but extremely dangerous too, as it was impossible for the driver to see out of the doors or windows for other traffic.

At Dartford town centre he stopped and phoned the garage explaining the situation, but still we had to carry on and we got to school very late. This means that we are getting in trouble for something which could quite easily be helped by simply putting on the single school bus again.

From looking on the Arriva website there is a comment stating that "there will be a number of timetable adjustments to improve reliability," but I do not see how this is to improve the reliability as it will not always be possible to fit everyone on; as we have seen previously where there were two buses running and not just one.

Thursday evening, I called the company again to see if the bus was being sent out again after all the goings on, but they simply said that KCC have now stopped the funding and therefore it was decided to take our school bus off the rota.

It is also going to be deported later in the evenings in the hope that most of the children will get on the earlier buses which travel from Wilmington to Dartford, but if they still continue to get on the 423, I have been told that by the time it gets to my school in Shepherds Lane I will not be allowed on due to overcrowding and it being illegally over the limit again, and even if I do manage to get on, I will be getting home 20-30 minutes later than I used to.

I think this is appalling and I hope that something will be done about it soon before more children end up being left behind at their schools especially with the dark evenings drawing in.

Name and address supplied