A TERRIFIED Worcester teenager was left stranded after being thrown off a bus because her pass had expired 20 minutes earlier.

Emily Langstone was left sobbing at the CrownGate depot after the First in the Midlands driver refused to allow her to board the vehicle despite the 17-year-old's efforts to explain that she had been waiting more than an hour for it.

The student's nightmare began after heavy traffic meant her connecting bus arrived at the depot at 6pm on Thursday, causing her to miss her usual bus home.

The teenager, studying animal care at Pershore Group of Colleges, waited until 7.20pm for the next bus to arrive, but as she got on the driver told her student bus pass expired at 7pm and threw her off.

"A lady I had been waiting with tried to explain that we had waited more than an hour, but he told me to get off," said the teenager, of Kingston Avenue, Astwood.

"I was left with no money and terrified, I just stood and cried I was so scared. I felt extremely vulnerable standing alone at the bus stop, and all because my bus was delayed and the driver refused to let me on the bus."

Furious grandmother June Langstone, who lives with the teenager and paid £105 for her one-year student pass, said she felt "sick with worry" after finding out that Emily had not yet returned home.

Eventually the family found the teenager huddled in the bus depot after she made a reverse charge call home.

"I was really panicking. I had rung her best friends who said Emily was not with them," she said.

"I cannot believe the driver's attitude, especially in this day and age. Children are kidnapped nowadays. I wonder if the driver has any children and how he would feel about the same happening to them."

Austin Birks, spokesman for First in the Midlands, said he sympathised with the family and an investigation into the incident would take place.

He stressed that the company's policy was not to leave youngsters stranded, but said each situation had to be judged on its own merits.

"Drivers have rules to abide by and regularly find themselves in difficult situations," he said.

"We are looking into the situation to establish exactly what happened."