A boy was beaten up as he walked home after being thrown off a bus in a mix-up over a travel pass.

Ian Holton, 13, said he was attacked in Woodgreen Avenue, Banbury, by three youths. He received a cut lip and bruising to his face.

He was walking from Blessed George Napier School to his home in Ferriston after being told by a Stagecoach driver earlier in the day that his bus pass was not valid.

The problems started as Ian was trying to get to school using a pass issued by the Oxford Bus Company. A Stagecoach town service driver refused to accept the permit.

Ian said: "I had to walk to school. I didn't try to catch the bus home because I didn't want to be told to get off again as I was in the morning. I thought the best thing to do was walk."

His father Martin, a driver with the Oxford Bus Company and a former Stagecoach employee, was furious.

He said his son's pass, issued by the OBC in a reciprocal travel agreement with other bus companies including Stagecoach, was in order.

He said: "As well as that, it is a nationally accepted rule with all bus operators, that children should not be refused travel."

Ian, who normally cycles to school, said it was the first time he had tried to use the pass - which has his name, photograph, and expiry date on it - on a Banbury Stagecoach route. But he had used it with other bus companies.

Banbury Stagecoach manager Nigel Smedley said: "Every day Stagecoach carries hundreds of children to and from school without incident.

"I do not know what happened to Ian, but I am trying to get the full details. It is not our policy to turn children away."

Ian has reported the attack to the police.