Children caught up in three-hour school runs

4,000 pupils facing ‘nightmare’ treks as Hammersmith Bridge saga goes on

THOUSANDS of west London pupils are being forced to spend up to three hours on “nightmare” commutes to schools that they could previously walk to in minutes.

Hammersmith Bridge was used by an estimated 4,000 students a day as their route to school before it was shut to pedestrians last month because of safety fears over widening cracks in the cast-iron structure.

Now children at schools such as St Paul’s and Harrodian in Barnes and West London Free School and Sacred Heart in Hammersmith are having to battle through heavily congested roads in cars or buses or make long cycle rides along the towpath and over Putney or Barnes bridges.

There are growing concerns about the safety of children after the clocks go back an hour next month and the journeys are made in the dark. One mother described her child’s new ordeal as a “total nightmare”.

St Paul’s School in Barnes said: “With 66 per cent or about 900 pupils coming from over the river the full closure of the bridge has been hugely challenging and we are aware of the impact it is having on our community.

“Staff have rallied to put on buses to get pupils here but we really need a co-ordinated solution fast. We are happy to co-operate in any way to bring about both a short-term and long-term solution. We have offered a piece of our land for a temporary bridge and are willing to support in any feasible way what is proposed to us. What would be helpful would be the laying out of a clear road map of next steps.”

Rachel Snaith, of the Harrodian school in Barnes, said about 400 pupils crossed the bridge each day. She said: “We were promised by TfL that the frequency of the 533 bus from Hammermsith would be increased, but it has not happened. This is a disaster.”

The private school is paying for four extra coaches to be put on each day to pick up pupils from Hammersmith, Chiswick, Kensington and Fulham. The bridge was first closed to traffic in April 2019 when cracks were discovered. It was shut to pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic in August. Hammersmith & Fulham council, which owns the bridge, says it will cost £141 million to complete a full repair but £46 million to be able to reopen it safely to pedestrians. The local authority and Transport for London say they do not have the money available.

The Government last week stepped in to set up a taskforce under Baroness Vere to find solutions.