‘Bus service cuts putting my children’s lives at risk’
A MUM says she fears for her children’s safety after a school run bus was pulled from the timetable.
Parents say children are being left at bus stops or forced to sit on stairs and stand in doorways after a bus on the Arriva 84 route was scrapped.
Changes have been made to the timetable, including pulling one of the buses that takes pupils to Lutterworth College and Lutterworth High School from villages including Cosby and Broughton Astley.
According to regular users, by the time the packed bus reaches the end of its route, drivers are leaving passengers at the stop because there is no more room on board.
Amy Mason’s two daughters at Lutterworth College, Poppy, 15, and Emma, 12, both buy a weekly ticket costing £11.50 each.
Amy said: “The bus drove past both of my girls on the first day of the new timetable meaning they were both late for school.
“They managed to get on the bus on Tuesday but were squashed in the door well. If that bus has an accident my kids are dead.
“They counted 30-plus people standing and kids were sat all the way up the stairs.
“Until recently, there were three buses they could catch, two specifically for schools and one public bus, then they took one of the school ones away last summer. Now they’re taking the other.
“All of those buses were full so that means three buses worth of people trying to get on to one bus.” Parents have been complaining to Arriva about the change to the timetable and lobbying them into reinstating the bus. Amy said she’d been told by an Arriva employee that the company has never received so many complaints but the service wasn’t financially viable. She said: “We pay almost £500 a year for this service. Some parents have bought their kids monthly passes, others annual ones, they paid out £410 at the start of the school year for a service that existed and now it’s gone. How can they take it away saying it’s not financially viable when people have already paid for it?”
Parents posting on Facebook also complained that children had been given detentions for being late and that buses are regularly late.
Amy said: “The school say it is parents’ responsibility to get their children to school. At the start of the term there was a bus that meant we could. Now that’s been taken away.”
An Arriva spokesperson said: “Changes were made to morning services on routes 84 between Blaby and Lutterworth at the start of the autumn term to better match the timings of the school day following feedback from local parents.
“A further update has now been implemented, removing the journey which would have commenced at 6.55am from Blaby, calling at Whetstone, Cosby and Broughton Astley before arriving at the Lutterworth terminus at 7.44am; this journey arrived nearly an hour before the start of the school day at 8.40am.
“Under the revised timings, we have buses on route 84 arriving in Lutterworth at 8.17am and 8.27am, plus customers travelling from Broughton Astley have the additional option of catching the X84 at 7.40am, arriving in Lutterworth at 8am.
“All of these services drop off outside Lutterworth College on Greenacres Drive or Bitteswell Road, and on Coventry Road for Lutterworth High School in plenty of time for pupils to promptly make registration.
“With regards to capacity on board our services, we now operate three double decker buses to Lutterworth both at the start and the end of the school day to ensure all pupils wishing to travel by bus are catered for.’’
The Mercury asked Lutterworth College for a comment but a response was not received before publication.