• Ellie Wales, 16, was returning home from school when she was left on a bus in Dormanstown, East Cleveland
• Her escort, who was also on the bus, has resigned
• The driver has been suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing

By Graham Smith

PUBLISHED: 16:06, 9 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:07, 10 May 2012

An autistic teenager with the mental age of five-year-old was left locked in a school bus alone for 45 minutes after a driver failed to notice that she was there.

Ellie Wales, 16, was returning home from school when she was left on board the vehicle at a bus depot in Dormanstown, East Cleveland.

Her father Frankie Wales said he was ‘distraught and frantic with worry’ when he heard about the ordeal she was put through.

It was only when Mr Wales rang the bus company to report that Ellie had not returned home that the driver realised he had left the teenager on the bus.

Ellie, who has the mental age of a five-year-old due to her autism and learning difficulties, came home in tears after the incident and told her parents that she thought she had done something wrong.

The bus driver, who works for Redcar and Cleveland Council, has been suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing.

The teenager’s escort, who was also on the bus, has resigned.

Mr Wales, 46, chairman of the Redcar Development Trust, said: ‘Ellie has told us that the bus didn’t go the normal way and didn’t drive past our house.

‘When it got to the depot the driver just got off without checking the bus and then locked it.

‘It is ridiculous to think that someone could leave a child on a bus in this day and age.’

Ellie was returning home from Kilton Thorpe Special School when she was left at the Dormanstown depot.

She got on the Redcar bus as normal and was expecting to be dropped off at her home in the town.

Mr Wales said: ‘We were frantic with worry about Ellie and the whole experience has really affected her.

‘I thought the bus must be running late. I rang the school and they told me Ellie had got on the bus OK.

‘I then rang the bus company and they said that she had never been on the bus. I started to panic and rang the school back.

‘We were going from one to the other not knowing where she was or what had happened and then someone from the bus company rang and said they had found her.’

Mr Wales and wife Maggie, a social worker, said their daughter was in tears when she was brought home.

Cllr George Dunning, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said the incident was ‘completely unacceptable’ and said the council is ‘deeply sorry’.

He added: ‘We immediately launched a thorough investigation into safeguarding issues surrounding our transport and additional measures have already been put in place.’

Mr Wales said: ‘I am not blaming the council. I just think it was terrible actions by the driver.

‘If he can’t notice a girl on the bus, then he might not notice traffic lights or oncoming cars.’