Maesteg: Girl misses out on free school bus by 160m

A woman whose daughter missed a free school bus by 0.1 miles has called the policy a “disgrace”.

Bridgend Council offers free transport to primary school pupils who live more than 2 miles from the school.

But Claire Jones, from Nantyfyllon, and her seven-year-old daughter live 2 miles from the school, meaning they are not entitled to free bus travel.

Bridgend City Council said it had one of the most generous travel policies in Wales and was complying with the Welsh Government’s requirements.

Claire said her daughter, Seren, has been a student at the school for three years and used to get free transportation, but was told she would not be eligible when she returned after half-term in October.

She said she offered to pay for her daughter’s transport but was turned down and may have to give up her job as there was no safe way to take her daughter to school – about a 40-minute walk away.

She said: “It’s a shame, everyone in the Maesteg area is having the same problem – nobody understands why this is happening.

“I am a working parent and leave home at 06:45 GMT and only get home after 17:00 and nothing is being done to help.”

Seren’s grandmother Julie, who works as a caregiver and helps her with childcare, said that as a caregiver she has already had to drop her shifts to help with her granddaughter.

The family said that a Catholic education was very important to them, so changing schools was not an option.

“It’s terrible, we’re a Catholic family and we want her to get a Catholic education,” she said.

“We want her to go to school, Claire, me and my mom, but I feel like we’re being told to put up with it, and that’s how it will be.”

Emily Roberts, from Maesteg, has two daughters who are students at the local Welsh primary school and said the two-mile radius for primary schools and three miles for secondary schools could impact them in the future.

“We could be in a situation where we have to take the two kids to different schools at the same time, I can’t be in two places at once,” she said.

Ms Roberts said she is considering moving the children to an English-speaking school so they can get free transport.

Another parent, Lisa Marie, said getting to school meant navigating blocked intersections with no safe crossings and unsafe sidewalks, forcing children to walk the streets.

She added that buses passed half-empty as children weren’t allowed to use them unless they already had an older sibling with them.

Huw Budd, also from the area, said his son would start comprehensive school in September and would have to walk about three miles to get there.

“The council argues it’s less, so it’s not entitled to free school transport – something needs to be done about that,” he said.

Huw Irranca-Davies, MS for Ogmore, said local authorities must ensure routes to school are safe and accessible for children.

He said: “You can’t very often go the direct route, you then have to try to go a safe route, so you don’t just look at the route on a map as a bit of desk research, you look at what it actually is.” is means to walk it.”

The Welsh Government said: “A detailed review of the Learner Travel (Wales) measure is to take place shortly. It will include addressing the threshold of home-to-school travel and transport for learners to Welsh secondary education.”

Bridgend Council said: “Our revised home-to-school transport policy, introduced in September 2016, meets all the statutory requirements of the Welsh Government.

“In situations where a child does not meet the eligibility requirements for free school transportation, parents have a legal obligation to make appropriate arrangements for their children to travel between home and school.”