A GROUP of teenagers were left stranded in a seaside resort after a bus driver refused to turn back and pick them up.

The youngsters were among a party of more than 50 who had gone to Newquay in Cornwall for a week's holiday and were due to be brought back to Winterbourne and Patchway.

A number missed the bus hired for the trip because they said they were unaware they were meant to be at a different pick-up point.

By the time they realised, the coach had been on the road for 10 minutes heading back to Bristol. The youngsters contacted some of the party on board by phone but the driver, David Ebbs, refused to go back.

Their furious parents have accused Mr Ebbs of abandoning their children.

But Mr Ebbs said the youngsters knew where they should have caught the bus, he had waited beyond the time he was meant to set off and could not return because of regulations covering driver hours.

Michelle Williams, of Park Avenue, Frampton Cotterell, said her daughter Stacey, 16, was "worried sick" when she realised she had been left behind. She said: "She had no money and the mobile phone reception wasn't very good. I was going to fetch her but in the end the father of one of her friends booked some train tickets for them."

Mrs Williams said her partner, Jason Lewis, met the bus when it returned and spoke with Mr Ebbs. She said: "He just didn't care. How would he have felt if it had been his daughter left behind?"

Stacey said: "I was really upset. I only had about 4p left but we'd already paid for the bus and I didn't need any more money. I didn't know how I was going to get home and I was really scared."

Many of the youngsters went to Newquay to mark the end of their time at Winterbourne International Academy and Patchway Community College and did not all know each other. The bus had been booked through one of the students, whose teacher mum, Judith Barlow, is Mr Ebbs' partner. They each paid £20 for their return ticket.

Stacey said she understood the bus would collect them from the place where they had been dropped off. She said she and Charlotte, also 16, got there in time, only to discover they should have been elsewhere. Charlotte's dad, Craig, of Elming Down Close, Bradley Stoke, said: "The ones who went were all 15 and 16. It's just not acceptable to leave kids like that behind."

Charlotte said about nine were left behind – a figure disputed by Mr Ebbs who understood it was five. She said: "I was angry and worried but we did all get home safely."

Mr Ebbs, who is self-employed, said he agreed to take the teenagers for the cost of hiring the coach and it was "absolutely, totally and emphatically clear to them" where they had to be picked up.

He said: "I arrived early and left 15 minutes late. I didn't go back for them because in a coach, you can't turn around on those narrow Cornish roads until you get to the main road.

"Saturdays are bad for traffic and it would have taken me an hour to do that. I'm constrained by driver hours so was precluded from going back. Also, why should I, or anybody else, inconvenience those who did make the pick-up because of a handful who didn't? They're old enough to have an unsupervised holiday but they were not there when the coach left.

"I gave up two days to take them and bring them back. I did it as a favour but it's just caused me a lot of anxiety."