By Monica Gibson

A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl from Neilston was left “crying hysterically” after a ticket mix-up saw her and her sister stranded in Barrhead.

Amy Louise Stevenson and sibling Katelyn were planning to enjoy a day out visiting their aunt, Donna Campbell.

The youngsters were given their bus fare and set off to travel into town.

Donna said the girls got on a McGill’s number three service from Neilston to Barrhead’s Main Street and asked for two child all-day tickets.

They then tried to switch to a number 51 service to Auchenback, only to find the driver of the bus from Neilston had issued them with single journey tickets by mistake.

Donna said: “The girls explained they had asked for the all-day ticket but were told to leave the bus.”

Amy, a pupil at St Thomas’ Primary, was left in tears.

Donna added: “If this had happened in Glasgow or Paisley, the girls would have been stranded miles from home as they didn’t have any more money with them.”

Ralph Roberts, managing director of McGill’s, said the company’s “Get Around For A Pound” child all-day ticket initiative has resulted in tens of thousands of additional journeys being taken by children across the west of Scotland this summer, but added that “like all success stories, there is the occasional hiccup.”

He told the Barrhead News: “One of our drivers issued the wrong ticket type by mistake, which is regrettable.

“As this ticket was presented to subsequent bus drivers for onward journeys, common sense would prevail and the kids would be allowed to travel based on two factors – firstly, that the value is the same and it was an obvious error and, secondly, our policy is to allow travel to kids, under relevant circumstances, who are stranded without money.

“The second element confuses us though, as the CCTV for the bus they were said to have been refused travel on shows no such incident.

“All drivers on the 51 route were interviewed and all described that they would do exactly as I outlined.

“Nevertheless, we would like to apologise to the children concerned and their parents for any upset this mistake has caused.”

Mr Roberts added: “McGill’s takes the safety of children travelling on our buses seriously and we have reiterated to our staff the importance of accuracy at all times.

“We are happy to provide a refund to the kids and also give them a complimentary ticket for the remainder of the school holidays.”