Parents slam county council as children left without transport to school

Child in school
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


Parents have slammed Cambridgeshire County Council after a change in home to school transport left their children without a way to get to school. The local authority has an arrangement to provide travel for eligible children to and from school.

The council carried out a re-tendering programme for the transport providers. However, many parents said they were not aware of the changes until shortly before the new term.

This meant that some children missed the first few days of school. Some of the parents have added that there were no arrangements made for a required 'meet and greet' with the new drivers, which caused added uncertainty.

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'They just don't seem to take anything in'

Karen Jones
Karen Jones, from Manea, said that she's had issues with transport for her granddaughter Sophia for the last year and a half -Credit:Karen Jones

Karen Jones, from Manea, said that she's had issues with transport for her granddaughter Sophia for the last year and a half. She added that she had experienced problems with school transport since her now adult children were in school.

She said: "They seem to not be able to sort themselves out and get things running the way it should be. I think I had it a year ago. I've got two granddaughters who live with me, one of them didn't have any transport put in place.

"I got a phone call just before the holidays finished this summer from 24x7, who were running the contract for my granddaughter for a while, and they said they had lost the contract because it had been retendered. I went 'Oh right, they haven't told me.'"

"There's this parent group called 'Cambs Parents SEND' and we all go on there and talk and ask advice and where they can get help. I asked if anyone else had any issues, because someone said that they had no transport for their child who is disabled, I said funny thing is, I haven't either, I've not heard anything.

"This thing with Sophia has been going on for about a year and a half, but I've had this in my past with my own adult children, I've had it for years with them. I mean, I get support indoors, that's not an issue, but its with education and transport and it affects the kids, so that's where I get firm with it.

"They just don't seem to take anything in. They sink it in and think it will disappear and fade away, but it comes back."

'I've had no support from anybody'

Cilla Anderson said that her son had missed the start of term as a result of the changes to her child's transport. She added: "The council said they weren't going to help me unless I accepted the transport I was given for my son. I didn't find out who the transport was with until two days before my son was due to go back. I had to chase up all over the summer.

"My son's just been left waiting around and it took him a week to go back to school. The stress has been unbelievable. I've had no support from anybody.

"I wanted to get an answer to do a meet and greet before my child got on that bus, because that's what he needs and I said I'm not going to use that transport if they can't meet them and they said they couldn't help me.

"I've had to do all this on my own. They're probably going to end up changing it again in a month's time apparently."

Response from Cambridgeshire County Council

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said: "Providing Home to School Transport for eligible students is one of our statutory duties. As part of delivering this service, we are legally required to carry out a regular re-tendering programme to adhere to laws and legislation. This sometimes means that travel arrangements may have to change.

"We recognise that change can be challenging for children with Special Educational Needs. When planning transport provision, we work with schools and families to ensure that all possible measures are in place to meet students’ needs. We made detailed information available in advance to all families whose transport would be re-tendered for September 2024.

"All of our Home to School Transport providers are required to organise 'meet and greets' with their staff to help put students at ease. We are aware that a few of our new transport providers this autumn did not initially do this. We have liaised with these companies to ensure that this is corrected as a matter of priority."

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