STRANDED miles from home, the Watson brothers became the latest victims of rural bus cuts.

Daniel, 13, and Luke, 17, reached their stop on time, but were not allowed onboard because the bus was full.

It comes after services between Winchester and their home village of Owslebury were halved last month (November).

Now the last bus to the village leaves the city bus station at 3.45pm instead of around 6pm.

So if college and secondary school students miss the no.63, or it is full, they are left behind.

That is what happened to Daniel and Luke Watson after their 11-year-old brother, Alex, caught the bus earlier on the route.

It fell to the eldest of the four brothers, Ben, 19, to drive his stranded siblings six miles to the family home in Main Road, Owslebury.

Their mother, Lisa, is now making regular trips into Winchester to collect her boys.

She said: “One of the problems is after-school clubs, as there are no buses late enough to get them home now.”

She added that Luke’s lessons at Peter Symonds College often finish after the final bus.

“If you live in the village and you can’t drive and you miss that bus, then you’re stranded,” she said.

The Watsons are not the only villagers affected, Owslebury Parish Council heard at its latest meeting.

Several members raised concerns about reduced services, including Gerry Tull.

He said: “There’s numerous cases of severe overcrowding on the buses to dangerous levels.

“In one case eight pupils had to get off to allow one from the back of bus to make his way off. Three children are sharing two seats regularly.”

Three services now run between Owslebury and Winchester each weekday when it used to be six. Saturday services have been axed completely.

Andrew Dyer, Stagecoach regional managing director, said it was because Hampshire County Council cut its subsidy.

When bus routes are not profitable, public money is required to keep them going.

County council executive member for environment Cllr Mel Kendal said they were facing a £55m funding gap.

He said: “Difficult decisions have had to be made in the allocation of the available funding to subsidise bus services.”

He added: “We simply do not have the resources to maintain all the journeys we were previously supporting and this has meant that the number of journeys on some routes has had to be reduced.

“In the case of the no.63 Winchester to Owslebury service, the priority was to maintain a return journey for school pupils at the beginning and end of the day, together with a ‘shoppers’ journey leaving Owslebury mid-morning and returning in the early afternoon.”