An anxious mum has expressed her worry over bullying after her teenage daughter tried to commit suicide, apparently following taunts from schoolkids.

The mother from the Three Towns, who we have not named in order to protect the girl’s identity, had believed that her daughter was staying at a friend’s house on Saturday, October 7. She was shocked when police arrived and said the girl had been found on a bridge over a busy Irvine bypass.

The mum told the Herald: “Somebody phoned the police about seeing her on the bridge. They brought her back here about quarter to one in the morning. It gave me a fright, I didn’t expect it, I thought she was doing ok. How many other kids are going through something similar?”

The mum added that during the same weekend, there had been a disturbance outside the family home.

She said: “There was a big crowd of about eight kids outside the door. She was getting really upset, I don’t know what they were saying to her. The next-door neighbour chased them. I phoned the school.

“She was extremely upset. There is an awful lot of bullying.”

A spokeswoman from Police Scotland said that at around 11.35pm on Saturday, officers attended an incident involving a teenage girl near Redburn Roundabout in Irvine and that the girl was taken home and subsequently to hospital.”

The Herald contacted North Ayrshire Council for a comment but they had yet to respond at the time of going to print.