THE boss of a bus company embroiled in chaos at the start of the school term has stepped down suddenly.

Alex Carter, managing director of Go South Coast, which runs Damory, Wilts and Dorset and other firms, has taken a temporary break from his duties, according to parent company the Go-Ahead group.

It comes just a couple of weeks after Damory, which took over Dorset County Council’s school bus services at the start of the new term, hit problems running the routes, leaving hundreds of children stranded at bus stops.

Damory pledged to resolve its “teething problems”, while the county council has launched an inquiry into the fiasco.

Go-Ahead is keeping tight-lipped on the reasons for Mr Carter’s sudden departure from the role.

In a brief statement, the company said: “Alex Carter is currently unable to fulfil his duties as MD at Go-South Coast and so Andrew Wickham is temporarily covering the post.

“There is nothing further to say, but we would urge you not to draw any conclusions based on speculation.”

Mr Carter got behind the wheel himself during the problems earlier this month in a bid to ease the situation.

Previously with Stagecoach, where his roles included managing director of Oxford, Mr Carter was appointed managing director of Wilts and Dorset in August 2003.

Go-Ahead has expanded rapidly since then; it now runs more than 500 vehicles from depots in Dorset and Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight, with bases including Poole, Bournemouth, Swanage, Ringwood and Lymington.

It is believed that Mr Wickham will continue in his role as MD of Plymouth CityBus, also owned by Go-Ahead.

He has previously worked as operations director at Go South Coast and was appointed operations director at Wilts and Dorset at the same time Mr Carter was made MD following a buy-out in August 2003.