Bus services to and from Cowbridge Comprehensive School have been impacted by the national shortage of qualified drivers.

This week, services bringing students to school arrived 30 minutes behind schedule three days in a row, before a new timetable was introduced yesterday.

However, one parent says she will now have to drive her children to school as the updated schedule will not arrive on time.

"My children catch the S20 from Fferm Goch in Llangan. It usually picks them up at 07:53. The new timetable states that they will not be picked up until 08:13," said Sally Stephenson.

"Unless the new bus is a Tardis, it is physically impossible to get from Fferm Goch to a classroom in Cowbridge Comprehensive School in 17 minutes. This means that the children on that bus will be late for school every single day.

"This is absolutely unacceptable. The school day runs from 08:30 until 15:00 and the children must be there on time.

"Dashing from the car park to their classroom every morning will not put them in the right frame of mind for learning and their late arrival will disrupt the children and staff who did manage to get to school on time.

"I therefore have no choice but to drive them into Cowbridge, adding to the already problematic traffic congestion, until such time as the bus timetable is changed back to a more appropriate pick-up time."

A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson said: "Most councils in Wales are currently dealing with a lack of suitably trained and vetted bus drivers for school transport and local bus services and we are no exception. This is being managed by changing some bus arrival and departure times, which is currently allowing the Council to run the school bus services it needs to.

"Plans are being drawn to keep school bus services running should the situation get worse. This might mean earlier or later school arrival or departure times for children.

"We are grateful to schools for assisting us with this matter and will continue to liaise with them along with bus companies and parents in an effort to manage this situation as effectively as possible.

"The operators concerned are actively advertising for both qualified PCV drivers and trainee PCV drivers to address these issues."