Relieved mum Carol Jones has praised a kind-hearted bus driver who gave her stranded son and his pal a free ride home.

Paul Jones and Gowan Hunt lost their way home following a night out at the cinema.

The 12-year-old pals panicked when they realised a short bus ride from Magdalen Street, Oxford, to their homes in Cowley was taking longer than usual.

It was only when the X3 hit the A34 that the Donnington Middle School pupils realised they had caught the wrong bus.

They found themselves in Abingdon, with no cash and feeling frightened. But bus driver, Mr Pete Clarke, took pity on the lost boys when he found they had no money left between them and did not know how to get back to Oxford.

Paul's mum Carol was so grateful she rang Mr Clarke's bosses at the Oxford Bus Company to make sure he was thanked properly.

She said: "It was getting late and I started to worry because the battery on Paul's mobile phone had run out so I couldn't get hold of him. I think the boys saw it as a kind of adventure.

"I'm so grateful to the driver for being so thoughtful."

Paul said: "I don't know what we would have done otherwise. I guess we would have tried to find an open shop or knocked on some doors."

Mr Clarke, a father-of-three from Blackbird Leys, said: "I did what anybody else would do."

Story date: Wednesday 23 February

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