‘All we’re asking for is empathy’, a Shinfield parent has pleaded as dozens of children could be left without a seat on a school bus in September.
As many as 49 pupils at Emmbrook School have missed out on school bus seats from Shinfield, Spencers Wood, and Three Mile Cross – on the E1, E2 and E3 services.
Angry parents have demanded that Wokingham Borough Council finds spaces for those children.
Councillors have offered some alternatives – but say the authority is only obliged to accommodate children who are eligible for free transport, and that remaining spaces are offered to fare payers on a first-come-first-served basis.
Darren Holdcroft, from Spencers Wood, said his youngest child, who has autism, has been left without a space. He says the alternative is that his youngest walks or cycles down an unlit road to get a public bus.
“I’m asking the council to put themselves in my shoes and ask, would you put a kid with his special education needs on a bike down an unlit road?” he said.
Parents met with Cllr Prue Bray, who is responsible for children’s services, on Wednesday, August 2.
She offered to open up six reserved spaces each on the E1 and E2 services, and to re-route the E3 so that it starts at the School Green centre in Shinfield, allowing another 10 children to get a seat.
But that still leaves 17 children without a space. Parents were told other options include paying for another coach themselves – at a cost of £75,000 a year between them – or taking public buses.
Wokingham Borough Council could also ask Reading Buses to reroute the Leopard 3 service to be more accessible to students – but this could take at least six weeks.
Cllr Bray told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that most of the children weren’t eligible for a guaranteed seat as they could attend a more local school, Oakbank, in Ryeish Green.
And she said the council couldn’t afford to subsidise extra places – even if parents pay a fare.
She said: “I can’t conjure up either a new school or a bus. We’re already going above and beyond what the council has offered before by trying to help them with their choices. We haven’t got the money to pay for transport for people who aren’t eligible.”
But Mr Houldcroft said his first two children went to Emmbrook as Oakbank had no spaces when they started secondary school – and he thinks his youngest would be better off following them.
He said: “My first two went to Emmbrook because there was no place available. People aren’t asking for free transport, they’re asking for a paid option. All I’m asking for is we have empathy.”
