YOUNG people in the Five Valleys have expressed their disappointment with bus company Stagecoach, after it pulled out of an agreement to extend concessionary fares to 16-18 year olds in Gloucestershire.

Campaigners Alex Farrow, 16 and Katy Dainton, 18, were delighted last December when Stagecoach agreed to extend the child fare age limit from 16 to 18.

But now the company - which made £108.3 million profit last year - says it has abandoned the idea.

Alex, a former pupil of Marling School who lives in Rodborough, said he was devastated about the company's about-turn.

"If they had just said no, it wouldn't have been so bad," he said.

"But messing us around for a year really takes the biscuit.

"With the new bowling alley and cinema there's finally something to do in Stroud but we can't get to it."

Rupert Cox, commercial manager for Stagecoach, said: "At the moment we are not going to do it.

"We were hoping we'd get something in place for the summer holidays but we've had a lot of service changes that need to happen and we only have a limited amount of resources.

"We are looking at improvements that will benefit all our passengers, not just a particular group."