PUPILS from Faringdon Community College ignored advice and walked home along a busy road after their school bus broke down.

The college's headteacher has said youngsters who decided not to wait for a replacement had "put lives at risk".

The bus was taking 50 pupils from the college to Stanford in the Vale on Thursday afternoon when it suffered mechanical problems.

The driver decided to pull up in a layby on the main A417, near Stanford, and contacted his firm, the Swindon Coach Company, asking for a replacement bus.

The driver told the pupils aged between 11 and 18 to stay in the bus and wait for a replacement service.

Most of the young people heeded the advice and stayed in the coach or waited outside in the lay-by.

The driver alerted the college and the college mini-bus was driven to the lay-by.

A teacher also drove out in his car to pick up pupils.

But some students from Stanford decided to walk the short distance home along the road as light began to fade.

David Wilson, the head of Faringdon Community College, said: "We will be talking to those pupils who ignored the advice of the bus driver to stay put until a replacement bus arrived and decided to walk home along a busy road at a time when it was starting to get dark.

"It was a poor judgement on their part because they were putting their lives at risk. It was a silly thing to do and we will be talking to them about their ill advised decision.

"Fortunately everyone arrived home safely, but I am concerned some pupils ignored the driver's advice."