Breaks are slammed on Guisborough school bus route changes

Redcar and Cleveland Council hoped to save £55,000 a year by issuing youngsters attending Guisborough’s Laurence Jackson School with bus passes to use a timetabled Arriva service instead of their usual bespoke arrangement with Skelton Coaches.

But concerns were raised over child safety and there potentially being insufficient capacity on the 65 service, which would have dropped youngsters in the town centre instead of at the school, a 15 minute walk away.

Council leader Alec Brown scotched the officer proposal after mounting opposition from those affected, pledging that any future changes would have to be agreed by the council’s cabinet.

Parents of pupils living in Lingdale, Boosbeck, Margrove Park and Charltons were sent letters by the council stating that from September they would be expected to use the 65 service, which runs between Lingdale and Middlesbrough.

Parent Kirsty Walton said youngsters would potentially have to stand if the service was crowded, or worse still be left behind and miss lessons if a bus was at maximum capacity with a wait of another hour for the next one.

She said: “This is our child’s nearest secondary school and school transport should be provided in a safe and suitable manner if the distance is beyond three miles, which it is. 

“A public bus service cannot guarantee pupil safety, seating availability, punctuality, or safeguarding standards.”

Another parent said: “The issue is capacity.

“This simply does not seem realistic, safe or reliable for the number of children expected to use the service.”

Lockwood ward councillor Steve Kay said parents had successfully fought the planned change and it was a “victory against bureaucracy”.

He said: “I just hope that the council will continue to see sense.  

“School transport is an underrated, yet vital service [and] our children deserve the best.”  

Cllr Kay said typically about 60 children a day were provided with transport by Skelton Coaches on the route in question.

He said the proposal to switch to Arriva was a “money saving exercise”, adding: “Children are more important than the council’s bank account.”

Cllr Brown said the proposal came about as a result of an annual operational review.

He said he feared a scenario, particularly during cold winter months, where youngsters missed the return bus home.

He said: “To be stuck there an hour in the dark and cold would be unacceptable.”

Cllr Brown added: “We [the council] care.

“They [the officers] said give it a go and we said no.”

The council previously conducted a review of school transport, investigating the potential for savings to be made by examining existing arrangements, having overspent in this area by more than £1.5m in 2024/25.

Cllr Brown said officers had done “amazingly well” in this respect.

The local authority commissions transport from private providers, where appropriate, such as coaches, mini buses and taxis, as well as funding bus passes and in some instances contributing towards parents’ petrol expenses.