Children were left waiting in the street again yesterday after bus problems that have plagued one of the district's new secondary schools returned.

About 20 pupils from Immanuel Community College were stranded at a stop in Harrogate Road, Bradford, when one of their school specials failed to turn up.

The situation echoes difficulties the school was having at the start of term when a lack of buses led to pupils turning up two hours late after walking up to two-and-a-half miles to classes.

Head teacher at the Thackley school Tim Cloke said he had contacted operators First Bradford yesterday because buses had not been stopping for children.

And Christine Baker, of Ravenscliffe, said her 13-year-old son Robbie was soaking wet after waiting in the rain for a bus to Immanuel's Thorpe site.

She said: "I am on income support and I can't afford to put him in a taxi.

"We had letters to say that after the half-term holidays the buses would be sorted out."

In the first few weeks of term staff at the school were forced to drive children home because the demand for school buses had been underestimated. Then a meeting was held with First Bradford and Metro resulting in extra buses and routes - and all seemed to be working well.

Mr Cloke said: "It is a horrendous situation because raising attainment starts with getting children to school on time. I hope that this is a one off incident."

A spokesman for First Bradford said the incident was being investigated and hoped it would not happen again.