An after school care provider and bus company are to blame for a five-year-old Ravenswood girl ending up 40 kilometres from home on a bus with strangers, the child's mother says.
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Charlotte Gleeson fell asleep while she was on a Tassielink bus bound for a Northern Children's Network after-school care service at Newstead.
Her mother Louise Gleeson was at work on February 13 when the service called to advise Charlotte was missing.
"I just went into panic mode, I was distraught," Ms Gleeson said.
"I just broke down. My first thought was that she'd fallen asleep on the bus. Kids fall asleep all the time."
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After Ms Gleeson was told the bus driver searched the bus and Charlotte was not on it, she feared an abduction could have taken place.
Police were notified and more than 30 minutes passed before anyone knew where Charlotte was.
NCN and Ms Gleeson were eventually told Charlotte was on the bus and could be picked up at Cressy.
According to Ms Gleeson, an elderly commuter discovered Charlotte.
"I got Charlotte back in my arms just after 6pm," Ms Gleeson explained.
"It was only when I was talking to her that night that I found out the bus service turned into a regional service.
"Charlotte told me there were heaps of people getting on and off the bus and that she was scared and didn't know what to do. An old lady came and spoke to her and this old lady has then alerted the bus driver."
After the frightening ordeal, Ms Gleeson found another after school care provider to look after Charlotte and lodged a formal complaint with the Education Department.
"One little sweep of a bus could have stopped all this by both that service and the bus company," she said.
"People need to be aware that if they don't follow policies and procedures and adequately look after your children, the children are put in a vulnerable position and it's child neglect."
NCN general manager Maggie Wilson said the organisation regretted any alarm or distressed caused.
"When we became aware, we immediately took steps to remedy the situation and offered support to the family," Ms Wilson said.
"We have taken steps to ensure it does not occur again."
Tassielink managing director Shane Desbery said his organisation would continue to have discussions with Ms Gleeson, about the incident and her concerns.
"Tassielink always takes our responsibilities to all our passengers extremely seriously and have a long history of safe service... including delivering to NCN for nearly 10 years," he told The Examiner.
