Dad’ s school bus plea over single-track road

ACaithness dad is battling Highland Council after it ruled an unlit single-track road is a safe route to a school bus stop.

Twelve-year-old Isla Sutherland walks the route at Achalone, Halkirk, most days to get the bus to Thurso High School.

However, her dad, Innes Sutherland, is concerned about heavy traffic, flooding and poor visibility on the remote country road.

Mr Sutherland wrote to Highland Council and waited several months to get a response – only to be told the road is safe.

He has now taken the matter up with local councillor Struan Mackie.

The primary school bus picks up Isla’s younger siblings from their home, after Mr Sutherland negotiated an agreement with the local bus company.

But the high school bus service has a different operator. Mr Sutherland wants the high school minibus to pick up Isla too.

“The road is totally unacceptable for anybody to walk on, never mind a child,” he says. “There’s no lighting. It’s a single-track road. My biggest concern is the traffic from nearby Spittal and Banniskirk quarries – there’s a lot of HGVs, artic lorries, fuel tankers and tractors.

“In summer time, it’s not so bad, but on winter mornings it’s not acceptable. The road falls off round a corner just before our house so you could be on a pedestrian before you know it.”

Highland Council paid a site visit to the Caithness school bus route on January 13. The risk assessment – seen by the P&J – rates the route amber and green, against a range of safety measures.

The report concludes: “Road is suitable as a walking route, with a low level of traffic and a flat even walk.”

It adds that Isla was seen walking the route wearing dark clothes and watching her phone, and advises hiviz clothing and a torch on dark days.

Mr Sutherland accepts this advice, and has given hi-viz clothes to his daughter. However, he still feels Highland Council has a responsibility to get its pupils to school safely.

“I work offshore and my wife works at Dounreay, plus we have two younger kids at home, so we can’t regularly take Isla to the bus stop,” he says.

Even if he could, he feels an unsafe road is just as dangerous to adults as it is to children. Mr Sutherland says he understands the logistical challenges, including the budget of what he is asking.

“If there was a safe route we would tell her just to get on with it,” he says. “Children nowadays get mollycoddled so getting out in the rain isn’t the issue. It’s the fact that the road is unsafe.”

Halkirk is home to a large number of wind farms, and Mr Sutherland is open to exploring whether developer contributions could fund a safe, gravel path for the whole community to use.

If this could be put in place, Isla could walk to the bus stop.

Yet discussions with Highland Council have been painfully slow.

Mr Sutherland sent a succession of emails in recent months, requesting the risk assessment report and updates. He is frustrated with the lack of progress.

“They’re just not willing to respond,” he says. “I can’t get hold of them.”

Mr Mackie has taken up the family’s case.

“Ensuring that children are able to travel to and from school is fundamentally a safety matter and I am frustrated that the council appears very inflexible,” says Mr Mackie.

In a statement, A Highland Council spokesperson said: “It is a parental responsibility to ensure that pupils get to the pick-up point (or to school if not eligible for transport).

“If the route has been assessed as suitable for walking (within the distance limits), the council has no duty to provide transport.”

FEARS: Concerned Innes Sutherland, inset, want the school bus his daughter uses to pick her up from home, rather than the bus stop on this road.