School transport 'shambles' as North Northamptonshire pupils and parents receive apology for failure of service on first day of term

Parents who rely on home to school transport have been waiting to hear from the council via email so they could make sure their children knew the time their transport would arrive.

But despite promises, the emails were never sent, leaving pupils unsure if they would be picked up or not.

Rothwell mum Rachel Tysoe, whose daughter Edith was due to start at Montsaye Academy this morning (Wednesday, September 4), has been contacting the council regularly ahead of the Year 7 pupil’s first day at school.

She said: “It’s been a disgrace, a shambles. We should have had an email but none of my friends have had one. I haven’t had anything official. I had to look at the timetable on the school’s website and hope it was correct.”

Edith qualifies for free school transport due to it being designated a safe route to school for students travelling between Desborough and Rothwell. She wanted to travel to school with a friend on the bus on their first day at secondary school.

Rachel said: “I called them (the council transport department) yesterday and they said they were ‘still working on it’. I called them back at 4pm, and they said they were ‘working through the night’.

“I even woke up at 5am to check my emails but no.

"It’s really important for her to catch the bus. She was a bit nervous so it’s terrible that these little ones have been stressed. It’s not good at all.”

Another mum, Donna, whose son will be returning to Kingsley Special Academy in Kettering has also been left in the dark.

She said: “He starts back tomorrow but it's just basically a case of having to wait and see if someone turns up tomorrow.

“It is absolutely disgraceful what is happening and the fact that they have now released a statement practically blaming parents and new applicants for the hold up.

“My son is going into his fourth year and as such does not need to reapply for transport until he goes to senior school. So they can’t say they did not know they had to provide transport for all the children who are already attending a setting.

“I spoke to the transport company that provided my son’s transport this morning. They informed me that they were ‘none the wiser’ and to who they were supposed to be picking up if at all. That the transport department were not putting the contracts out to tender and leaving it until the last minute.”

Apologising to parents ‘unreservedly’, Cllr Matt Binley, North Northamptonshire Council’s executive member for highways, travel and assets, admitted the service had ‘failed to meet the high standards’ they expected.

He said: “We are aware of some issues regarding home to school transport for some pupils starting back to school this term and are working hard to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.

“The team has been putting in place arrangements since the deadline for applications closed in May and the majority of children (SEN and mainstream) have been transported successfully to school for the start of the new year.

“However, some families who submitted applications before the deadline have not been made aware of their transport arrangements for the start of the school year. The team are working as hard as they can to provide updated information for the parents and the schools.

“We know that this is a stressful time for pupils and their families and carers at the beginning of the school year. We acknowledge that in some cases the service has failed to meet the high standards we expect of it and for that we apologise unreservedly.

“If parents have contacted the team, they will receive a response as soon as possible and the team are working through the correspondence as quickly as they can.

“If the parents applied after the deadline (end of May), they will be allocated transport as soon as possible but regrettably we are not able to provide transport for all late applications for the beginning of term and this year saw a significant number of late applications.

“We are investigating to fully understand how these issues have arisen and will work to make sure that processes are strengthened so this is not repeated.”