ANGRY mother Sonia Bethwaite has blasted bus firm Stagecoach after they found her son's schoolbag - and gave it to a driver!

Walton-le-Dale High School pupil James Bethwaite now faces the agonising task of rewriting all the work in his exercise books which vanished along with his schoolbag.

Classmates of the 12-year-old, from Church Hill, Whittle-le-Woods, grabbed his bag while he waited for a bus outside school in November. They jumped onto the bus and left James behind.

According to his irate mum, the bag was handed into Stagecoach's lost property office in Chorley. Despite the fact the school books inside his bag had his name and school's logo on them, no attempt was made to contact the school to say it had been handed in. After being hit by a catalogue of problems - including James breaking his hand, Sonia catching 'flu and one of her daughter contracting chickenpox - Sonia finally got around to tracking down the bag.

She said: "By this time, more than a month had gone by so when I eventually got to the bus station, I was told the bag wasn't there.

"It had been given back to the driver, who apparently has first claim on it after a month. I was told he had paid a nominal fee for it.

"I am absolutely appalled that this driver now has my son's bag. There is no sign on the bus saying it is policy. To gives someone possessions away to someone else for free is disgusting."

According to Stagecoach, there had been some confusion over the colour of the bag, but Sonia added: "Both my mother and I have tried to track it down and she may have got the colour wrong. But my son's name is written down in their log which I have seen. It wouldn't have hurt for them to make an effort to contact us."

Maq Alibhai, operations manager for Stagecoach, said: "We can't hold onto things for ever, and if the driver doesn't want it, it is given to charity."

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