A member of the youth parliament from Exmouth is lobbying county chiefs to ensure school and college students get affordable public transport.

And some councillors over the age of 60 have said they would be prepared to give up their bus pass to a young person.

Community college student Abbey Swain, 17, the deputy member of UK youth Parliament for Mid Devon and is charged with discovering the problems and issues that young people have.

Each month she takes the top three issues within her constituency and then tries to find a solution by discussing the problem with county councillors, MPs and other decision makers.

This month the three local campaigns for Devon are public transport, employment, and the image of young people in the media.

Students told Abbey that they found public transport to expensive.

Abbey said: “To tackle the public transport issue by trying to lower cost across the region is very ambitious, we therefore want to raise awareness of the issue or install something along the lines of a temporary student fee.

“We’ve spoken to Councillors and many – despite most being of a different age group to us and having no personal benefits from it – have said themselves that they were willing to lose their bus passes in exchange for a young person in more need taking it.”

She added: “The second and third campaigns are somewhat linked. Problems with young people’s trouble finding employment could partially be attributed to their negative reputation in the media.

“Improving the image of young people in the media can be done through sending newspapers more positive stories about local young people.”