A PUPIL has been refused a school bus pass because he has not been baptised.

Elliott Stewart, 11, was denied a free pass to St Leonard's, a Catholic school in Durham City, despite gaining a place to study.

Durham County Council says to qualify for a bus pass on religious grounds Elliott at least one of his parents must be a baptised Catholic.

His Catholic father Stephen and mother Treena, an Anglican, did not have him baptised because they want him to choose his religion.

Elliott, from Brasside, does not qualify for a pass on locality grounds because St Leonard's is not his closest school.

For the full story, see Wednesday's Northern Echo.