A widowed mother is unable to find transport to school for her daughter.

Tako Jones, 12, faces missing her second year at Burford School because there is no place for her on the morning and afternoon school bus.

Her mother, Colette, of Farmington Drive, Witney, said her daughter's plight highlighted the lack of choice in education, while the chairman of the school's governors called the public transport system "a mess".

With just a week to go before the new school term starts, Mrs Jones has called for help in finding transport for Tako.

Mrs Jones chose Burford for her daughter last year because she believed the area's secondary schools to be of the same high standard and Tako wanted to be with her best friend.

Despite being a single mother on a modest income, she set money aside to pay the £418 transport bill for the year on a school bus run by Carterton Coaches.

"Even this is more than ten per cent of my budget, but I was prepared to pay it. Now I have learned that the service is over-subscribed and Tako doesn't have a place on the bus any longer. She is devastated.

Mrs Jones, who works part-time as a researcher at Oxford University, does not have car.

The Stagecoach public service from Witney does not arrive in Burford until 50 minutes after the school's morning registration and taxi fares are £8 each way.

Oxfordshire County Council allows parents to choose which secondary school their child attends but only provides free transport to the one in their catchment area. For Mrs Jones and Tako it would have been Wood Green or Henry Box schools.

Malcolm Harper, chairman of the school governors, said this week: "This is not the first time this has happened. It shows that the whole public transport system that we rely on is a mess."

Headteacher Patrick Saunders said he would try to solve the problem.