Bucks council said to have 'washed their hands' of a child after latest school bus debacle

Bucks County Council (BCC) are cancelling home to school bus options for some children across the county and telling them to catch a public bus instead, despite their parents having paid and received passes for a dedicated school bus at the start of the school year.
By Sam Dean
Published 24th Oct 2019, 17:06 BST
Updated 24th Oct 2019, 18:06 BST

BCC have informed parents this week, just two weeks before the change comes into effect, that they will receive refunds for any upfront fees paid and that they would have to contact local bus companies to negotiate costs going forward.

This comes after BCC had published an announcement earlier this week claiming to have created 1,400 new school bus places.

A parent affected by this change told The Bucks Herald:

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“This morning I've had a letter via email saying that on the 4th November, which is the day they go back after half-term, that there's no home to school transport and the new service is the 164 - well that's just the public bus! It goes all around the houses, via Tring, to get to Aylesbury, and doesn't drop off at the bus park like the current bus does.”

The parent told us that the total journey time throughout the day was 38 minutes longer on the public bus, with additional walking distance once off the bus making it almost an hour longer travelling time to and from school for her child each day.

In a prior communication the parent had concluded:

“This behaviour will lead to parents driving into Aylesbury.”

Previously we reported that 72% of applicants for a paid-for bus seat were unsuccessful and parents were only informed of this a few days before the start of term. Those who were successful did not get their passes on time.

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In response to this, campaign group 'Bucks Community School Transport Issues' was setup by concerned parents, and BCC had agreed to work with them to resolve the problems. The results have been mixed, with the group recently angered by the council claiming credit for work they had done.

With regards to this latest move by BCC, a representative of Bucks Community School Transport Issues said to us:

“We are unclear what the full agenda is here for Bucks County Council. They appear to make public statements and then contradict them.

“They took this parent's money months ago and then the parent received notification that their child has to get the public bus, where there's no guarantee of space – yet another safeguarding issue.

“They've washed their hands of this child.”

BCC have been approached for comment and their statement will be added as soon as it's available.

Related topics:Aylesbury