Green Bus company fails to issue refunds - parents

Harriet Pritchard said she had to buy another annual pass for her son while waiting for a refund

Parents have said they are still waiting for refunds for school transport after it was cancelled.

Hundreds of West Midlands pupils were left in limbo when the Green Bus firm stopped services a week before the new school year, blaming rising costs.

Green Bus chief executive Ian Mack previously said there were "plenty of funds available" to refund parents.

It operated school routes in Warwickshire, south Birmingham, Longbridge, Rubery and Catshill.

Parent Harriet Pritchard said she had paid the full cost of the transport - £1,095 - up front and had not yet received a refund, despite being promised one.

She has had to buy a second bus pass for her son.

"I'm now out of pocket to the tune of £1,900," she said.

"I'm a single parent and as Christmas gets a bit closer this is a real impact on me."

Emma Johnson said she had surveyed about 100 other parents on a WhatsApp group, with 60 replying to say they also had not had a refund.

Emma Johnson has received a refund but says others have not

"Some people have been refunded through the bank, like I have, but some people haven't had anything," she explained.

"If they have paid us in advance for the whole year then there will be an automatic refund through the stripe system," Mr Mack told the BBC in an interview at the end of August.

"If they've paid us through direct debit they have paid one instalment of about £100. They've been asked to email us with their bank details and we will get it back to them within the next 14 days."

An email was sent to some parents stating they would be issued with refunds by the end of business on Tuesday 26 September.

The company boss now needed to do "as he's promised," Ms Johnson said.

"He promised we would get a refund in 14 days on the BBC, we didn't get that. We've had promises since - these promises for Tuesday we don't know if it's going to happen or not."

The BBC has approached Mr Mack for a comment.