Oxford Bus Company managers are delighted that its old buses are being used to help schoolchildren in a south east Asian town devastated by the tsunami.

Last June, the company donated four of the 100 buses given by the UK bus and coach industry.

The buses which used to run on the number 5 route to Blackbird Leys were shipped abroad by charity Islamic Relief, to replace buses that were swept away or destroyed in the disaster that killed hundreds of thousands of people on Boxing Day, 2004.

Almost a year on, the first news of the four buses which left for the tsunami-damaged regions, has reached the bus depot, located near Blackbird Leys.

Managers have been told that their buses are being used to transport children to school in one of the worst-hit areas, at Banda Aceh in Indonesia.

Managing director Philip Kirk said: "The last we heard of the buses was when they were shipped from Southampton. Communications with Indonesia are still difficult and it was a real thrill when we heard about the really vital role the buses are being used for."

The company donated the vehicles to Asia Bus Response, a UK-wide appeal for vehicles by the bus industry, to help rebuild communities and livelihoods in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. They were shipped from Southampton last May.

Mr Kirk added: "The Dennis Dart single-deckers spent all of their working life on local routes in Oxford.

"It couldn't be a greater contrast with their new life in Indonesia."

News of the buses' new lives was discovered by Jo Bush, who was working for the company when the buses were sent to Asia.

Friends of hers, from a college based in Singapore, contacted her after they went on a relief mission to Banda Aceh and saw one of the buses in use. Mrs Bush said: "The aim of the trip was to work with the teachers and identify ways in which relief efforts can be intensified. As our friends stepped off the airplane, one of the first vehicles they saw was old fleet number 510.

"Knowing that I had worked for the Oxford Bus Company they took this photo and sent it to me. I felt very proud to know that the wheels of 510 are still turning.

"It is nice to know that I had such a small part in such a worthy cause even if it was just filling out the documents."