A Saltcoats dad has told of his despair after his teenage daughter was wrongly escorted off a bus by an inspector because of a faulty ticket machine.

Stewart Frew was at work in Largs on Wednesday, December 6 when he received a tearful call from his daughter Caitlyn.

The 16-year-old had been thrown off a Stagecoach bus on her way to work for not having a valid ticket, despite having paid £12 for a weekly Megarider pass just days before.

But it later turned out that the inspector’s machine was faulty and had wrongly flagged up Caitlyn’s ticket as invalid.

Stewart said: “The inspector came on the bus at Irvine checking tickets. She told her that it was invalid, then asked her to pay for the journey. Caitlin had no money on her, so she was escorted off the bus like a criminal.

“It just beggars belief. She doesn’t know Irvine. She also has a fear of being abandoned, of being left alone, so that all kicked off. She burst out crying.

“She was really, really upset. She was crying on the phone to me. She phoned her mum first, who went straight up to the depot to complain.

“I was bealin’ because they chucked my daughter off the bus. I’ve never had my daughter phone me at work – when I’m miles away – crying like that. I felt absolutely helpless.

“The only reason was because the inspector had a faulty device. Why didn’t they check the driver’s box? If she walked down and put it on the driver’s equipment it comes up with the card’s history.”

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach West Scotland said: “We responded directly to the Frew family apologising for this unfortunate incident.

“We take such matters very seriously and after receiving the complaint we carried out a full investigation.

“Unbeknown to the ticket inspector there was a technical issue with the card reader that day following a software update.

“The card reader incorrectly read Miss Frew’s smart card as invalid. In keeping with our Conditions of Carriage, Miss Frew was asked to pay the full fare in order to continue with her journey but chose to depart the vehicle.

“On discovering the technical issue with the card reader we arranged for a replacement smart card with several days free travel as a gesture of goodwill to be sent to Miss Frew.

“We can only apologise again for any upset caused to the Frew family.”