There is no room for the 16 pupils on the school bus

The youngsters from Talgarth and Bronllys in Powys, are happy to pay to use the school bus to Gwernyfed High School near Hay-on-Wye, three miles away.

But the bus is full and none of the families owns or has access to a car, and infrequent bus services in such a rural area mean the children cannot get to school until 1000BST.

At the other end of the day, their parents say, it is too dangerous for them to wait unsupervised for 90 minutes for the first bus home, so they are demanding they leave school an hour early.

Powys Education Authority admitted it did have a serious problem.

It is already spending 10% of its budget - amounting to £5m - getting pupils from remote areas to school.

The authority said that, by law, it could provide transport only for secondary school pupils living more than three miles away from their schools.