A mum has hit out at a bus company whose driver left her nine-year-old disabled son stranded half a mile from his home.

Ben Fearnley, who suffers from learning difficulties, was catching a school bus home run by Weymouth-based Bluebird Coaches when the driver continued past his bus stop and refused to go back.

The St Osmund’s schoolboy was forced to flag down a motorist for help after being left on a rural road as darkness fell.

He was dropped off the bus at a lay-by on the old Sherborne Road in Charminster – half a mile from his regular drop-off point at Vicarage Lane.

Ben’s mum Liz Fearnley says she is extremely grateful that a woman driver pulled over and gave him a lift home.

She said: “He was so upset and didn’t know what to do or how to get home.

“His heart was beating fast when he came in through the door and he was so scared.

“In this day and age you really don’t know what is going to happen if you have a child at the roadside trying to flag down a car.”

Ben suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and carries an autism alert card with him. He has been travelling independently on the bus since the middle of October.

Mrs Fearnley said: “He’s worried that this is going to happen again – he’s had sleepless nights and he didn’t want to get back on the bus.

“I now have to get him on the bus in the morning and off the bus in the afternoon to reassure him.”

Mrs Fearnley reported the incident to the council. She said: “I was upset about what happened. I had to fight to get Ben on a proper school bus.

“I’m disgusted by Bluebird Coaches.”

Mrs Fearnley said she would like a chance to personally thank the woman who gave Ben a lift home.

She believes the woman was driving a silver car and has a son called William who goes to Dorchester Middle School.

“She was a kind woman and we want to thank her for helping Ben,” she said.

Mrs Fearnley can be contacted on 01305 259161.

A Bluebird Coaches spokesman said the company had not been informed of the incident by Dorset County Council’s school transport department.

He added that the company did not wish to comment.