A schoolgirl was left stranded and in floods of tears after not being allowed on a bus for the third time inside a month.
Lois Bailey ran into trouble when a QR code she had been told to scan refused to load onto her phone.
The 11-year-old, who has just started her first year in secondary school, was still able to show that she had a valid ticket.
But the Arriva bus driver in Wrexham, north Wales, still wouldn't let her on. The youngster had to call her father to take her to school and was crying when he picked her up, NorthWalesLive reports.
To get to Ysgol Maes Garmon school in Mold, she catches the number 27 bus - the only mode of transport she can take to get her to class.
Her parents pay for monthly and weekly bus passes in order for her to make the 11-mile journey each day, and now they come as codes that need to be scanned when stepping on.
Her father Matthew, who says he is "constantly worrying" about getting another call from his daughter to say she has been stranded, says the issues are having an impact on Lois' adjustment to her new surroundings.
Mr Bailey said: "She's been left stranded three times in total, but on the third occasion she was completely alone - that was the worst time. Lois was waiting at the Wrexham bus stop on the Mold road.
"Her friends weren't with her and she was struggling to get the QR code to load on her phone.
"She was trying to show the driver that the ticket was still valid and that it wasn't loading but the driver wouldn't let her on, he just closed the door and drove off.
"She was very upset and was in floods of tears when I went to pick her up. She's only 11-years-old and has just started at the big school so it was already a scary experience for her. I can't understand how someone could just leave a kid that age. That's her only way to the school on time and nothing's changed so it could happen again any day.
In the last month, Lois has been left stranded on two other occasions, her father claims, with the bus full on one occasion. On the other, it simply drove past Lois and her friends, leaving them with no option but to call their parents for lifts, Mr Bailey claims.
He added: "We're constantly worrying about it. We can't rely on the service and we're left wondering every day if we're going to get a phone call asking to pick her up.
"Arriva don't seem to take complaints seriously. You can't get through to them - they're just a big conglomerate with a terrible culture and their trains aren't much better either."
An Arriva spokesperson says the company is investigating Lois' case.
The spokesperson said: "The changes to the Wrexham network made on the 11th September followed consultation with TfW and other stakeholders to ensure we can provide the best network within available resources.
"The network changes were communicated two weeks prior with onboard notices, on our social media, and also a very large mail drop throughout Wrexham. Regarding bus stop timetables, the local authority manage this.
"We welcome all feedback regarding our services & timetables, this helps us to shape future plans for our network as well as understanding how we currently meet our customers needs.
"Following feedback, from 30 October 2022 the journey on service 21 departing Wrexham at 06.45, will be revised to depart at 06.40 returning from Summerhill to Wrexham at 06.58."
