SCHOOL children are being forced to queue outside Chalkwell Station after a spate of anti-social behaviour - but parents are livid and have slammed c2c bosses for tarring all youngsters with the same dirty brush. 

As children returned to school this week, dozens were seen queuing outside the station in the evening with parents telling the Echo how  their teenagers returned home an hour later than usual. 

c2c has insisted the move follows a series of issues with anti-social behaviour at the end of the last school term, including an incident which saw thousands of pounds of damage to a train. 

However, those responsible have been banned by c2c and parents have been left furious that all children are being unfairly punished. 

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Stephen Thomas, 54, said his son was delayed by an hour on Tuesday after missing his usual train due to the queue of schoolchildren. 

He said: “All the school children, no matter what uniform you are wearing, are forced to line up outside the station whilst adults are still allowed to the enter the station and get on the platform.

“They weren’t even given a reason and what concerns me is he has had long day, and should normally get back around five, and now he is getting here close to six. 

“I don’t understand the principal of it when adults can go in and out.

“Doing this to children at this age is worrying too as they are vulnerable, I am just about comfortable with the journey he gets, but the more they are made to wait, the later and darker it gets, it concerns me especially for his safety.

“How can you discriminate? If the station is having problems with certain school children, then ban them or tackle that.”

Iain Palmer, head of revenue protection and security at c2c insisted the firm is working closely with police to tackle the problem.

He said: “Unfortunately we saw a spate of antisocial behaviour by some school children at some of our stations and on trains toward the end of the last school year, causing safety concerns as well as disruption for other passengers. 

“We believe that everyone has the right to travel on clean, punctual trains. 

“Therefore, we have implemented a queuing system to reduce these issues, as well as banning some individual students after one particular incident caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to one of our trains.

“We have been working closely with local schools and BTP on these plans and continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Sergeant Jay Bibby from The British Transport Police said: "We are aware of reports from passengers and station staff in relation to anti-social behaviour at Chalkwell station and on certain c2c train services from school children and the subsequent damage caused to c2c train carriages.

"We are working with c2c rail, local schools and passenger groups alongside conducting additional high visibility patrols this school year as part of our plan to disrupt and deter anti-social behaviour.

"We’d also encourage members of the public to download a brand-new app called Railway Guardian, alongside lots of useful information the app can be used to report any type of crime directly to us via 61016 or our online crime report."