A LLANOVER parent has criticised the overcrowding on her sons' school bus to Abergavenny and says it places pupils in danger.

Roisin Ballinger has complained to Monmouthshire LEA, to the Stagecoach bus company and to staff at King Henry VIII Comprehensive School, which her two sons attend.

She said: "They used to have a double decker bus on the route for children from Goytre, Llanover and Llanellen who attend King Henry School.

"But this term there has been a single decker and many of the children have had to stand because there aren't enough seats.

"This leads to bad behaviour by some of the pupils and there was an incident last Friday in which acorns were thrown and the driver was hit on the back of the head by one.

"He confiscated the bus passes from the nearest six pupils. Unfortunately this included one of my sons who was not involved in the incident, although his brother was, and he admitted he picked up an acorn and threw it back.

"He got a right roasting from me, but it emphasises that when children are standing they can't be so easily identified if they get up to mischief."

She said her main concern was the children's safety when they had to stand during the journey to school each day.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "The bus in question is a public service and not a contracted school service vehicle.

"This is because we are bound, wherever possible, to use public service vehicles where they are available to ensure the sustainability of public transport, and we buy season tickets for the pupils.

"We accept there are issues with supervision of pupils, but we publish guidelines for pupils, parents and bus operators.

"However, if the driver thinks pupils are misbehaving and putting others at risk he is entitled to ask them to leave the vehicle."

Pat Harris, co-ordinator of children's safety group BUSK said: "In the last six months BUSK have received a record number of complaints about school transport in Monmo- uthshire. The council is legally liable for the safe journey of children in school transport if the LEA pays."

Stagecoach were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.