SHE is only 10-years-old but at 5ft 7ins Amy Knight stands more than head and shoulders above her friends in her size nine shoes.Many women several years her senior would love to be able to boast her long legs but the primary school pupil is finding her size something of a problem.

SHE is only 10-years-old but at 5ft 7ins Amy Knight stands more than head and shoulders above her friends in her size nine shoes.

Many women several years her senior would love to be able to boast her long legs but the primary school pupil is finding her size something of a problem.

A holiday swimming session with school friends turned a nightmare for Amy when she tried to get the bus back from Crown Pools in Ipswich to her Swinburne Road home.

When she asked for a 50p child's ticket, the bus driver did not believe she was only 10.

Because she could not provide any identification, she was forced to make the three mile walk home distressed and alone.

Ipswich Buses has since apologised for the incident and are now issuing older looking children under the age of 11 with identity cards to try and combat the problem.

Malcolm Robson, managing director of Ipswich Buses said: "If people are in a similar situation, we can issue a free identity card as long as they bring identification, such as a birth certificate.

"The incident is something we regret but the driver has been spoken to and we have apologised."

Although Amy may look older than her years, her distressing experience happened only a day after two 10-year-old girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, from Soham in Cambridgeshire disappeared.

Amy had tried to get on the bus at 12.07pm yesterday from Tower Ramparts bus station after her two friends had boarded the bus, paid and sat down.

Amy's mother Mary said: "She asked for a 50p ticket and paid the money, but the driver said 'I don't think so'. He asked her for her ID, but she replied that she didn't need any because she was under eleven. He didn't believe her even when she told him her exact birth date. He simply told her 'get off my bus'.

"My daughter isn't one to argue so she did what he told her. Her friends came home and told me what had happened and I was so angry. She had to walk all the way home and when she got home she was crying and very upset.

"If anything had of happened to her on the way home I don't know what I would have done. The worst thing is that the driver didn't even give Amy her money back, he just told her to get off the bus."

Amy said she had tried to convince the driver of her age: "I was upset that he didn't let me on and that he took my money. I even told him my birthday but he wouldn't let me on."

Mum Mary said that a similar situation had happened before, but her daughter had been using Ipswich Buses throughout the summer holidays and had even caught the bus into town that morning without any problems.

"The other week it happened when we were both on the bus and I phoned up to complain. I was told that she was too young for an identity card because you have to be 11 to carry one. They suggested that she should carry her birth certificate, but to ask a girl of ten to carry her birth certificate around is ridiculous. I think it's disgraceful."