A total of 23 youngsters will have to find alternative transport from next term after the local authority discontinued its fare paying service from Holt Road to Darland High School.

It means youngsters will now either have to walk some distance to King Street station, club together and pay £2 each day for a minibus or find a new school.

One mother, Michelle Bithell, who has a son and a daughter at Darland, said parents were deeply angered by the move, brought about because Holt Road does not fall into Darland's catchment area.

"The bus is officially going to stop on April 1," she said.

"The school have actually asked the council whether instead of doing it halfway through the year they will instead do it at the end, but they won't.

"After Easter the kids don't know how they are going to get to school.

"They have been told to go to the bus stop but they don't know who's picking them up.

"A minibus could be organised but that would mean we would have to pay £2 for each pupil each day. The alternative is to go to another school, but both my children, Andrew and Marie, are dyslexic, so they are settled and they get good support.

"Everybody is up in arms about it. I can't pay £20 a week. You've got school dinners on top of that and school outings."

Martin Wright, Wrexham Council's chief transportation and asset management officer, said: "It had recently come to light that a school transport contract had been providing a fare-paying service from the Holt Road area of Wrexham to Darland School, Rossett.

"This has been identified as an unauthorised practice within the council's approved contract.

"The council had no alternative other than to ensure that the operator ceased to offer this service from the commencement of the summer term, advanced notice of this decision was given to the individuals concerned to enable them to make alternative arrangements."