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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

16 plus school transport (facebook group)

67 replies

t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:36

(As a parent of a 16 year old who has been travelling free to his nearest catchment school 20 minutes away for free until he hit 16 )now we have to fork out £946 for a travel card per Year , AIBU to think this is unfair especially as local school was shut (Iver Bucks) I cannot afford to pay this all in one go so am spreading the cost but for this I have to pay over £50 more a year! So unfair and many families will just not be able to afford to keep their children on at the school they know and love... Chalfont Community College

OP posts:
Tee2072 · 02/09/2012 08:37

Um...YANBU, I guess. Not exactly sure what you're asking, TBH.

Kayano · 02/09/2012 08:40

Saturday job. Like the rest of us had to do?

Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:40

Should we just shut up and pay up ? I am having to ATM but i have joined a growing group of people who are very angry and are going to take it to Overview and scrutiny.......our children should not be disadvantaged because of where we live?

OP posts:
twentyten · 02/09/2012 08:40

could your dc be eligible for what has replaced EMA?available from the education establishment?

Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:40

Minimum wage!? but yes he works ...

OP posts:
JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 02/09/2012 08:40

I don't know what we can do about it, pointless involving us as we don't live in the area

Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:41

Not sure but prob not we both work if we did not then travel costs would be free....

OP posts:
Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:42

Im sure this affects many areas not just bucks...

OP posts:
Kayano · 02/09/2012 08:43

What's with the 'minimum wage?!'

Aye minimum wage Hmm everyone starts somewhere and people need to learn the value (or lack thereof) of the £

JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 02/09/2012 08:48

Maybe it's regional, but round these parts Bluewater is the biggest employer for 6th formers - and the majority of the shops won't touch them until they are 17. Which is fine if you are born early in the academic year, but a bit of a bugger if you are summer baby. Super markets won't have anyone under 18 because of the alcohol trading laws, they don't want to be arsed with the lass on the till bleeping every 2 minutes for a supervisor when a case of beer for the BBQ goes through.

Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 08:48

agreed thats why hes working...

OP posts:
Kayano · 02/09/2012 08:50

So make him budget for his transport....

JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 02/09/2012 08:52

t1zzy is there any mileage in parents/carers getting together and lobbying the council/Mps for travel passes?

I've never considered this, coz we get free travel in London up to 19.

DrCoconut · 02/09/2012 08:54

Hopefully when the leaving age goes up transport will be free? Not much help to the OP but a thought. It's a shame that education for over 16's is not treated as much of a priority even though it massively affects people's later lives (and how much the state has to subsidise them, to put it in cold business terms). I'd say it's worth say £2k now to avoid dependency to a much greater level later.

NCForNow · 02/09/2012 08:57

Have you spoken to your local councilor?

sashh · 02/09/2012 09:30

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy him a bike?

I think you are lucky to have had 5 years of free transport.

Kayano · 02/09/2012 09:37

Aye a bike! I miss having a bike

EdithWeston · 02/09/2012 09:42

Having free transport to school isn't "luck" it's a statutory requirement that LEA must fulfil.

But LAs budgets are under pressure, and it is now vanishingly rare for anything above the required minimum. As schooling for 16+ is non-statutory, the obligation to provide transport ends.

To campaign successfully for a Council to provide additional services, you would probably need to show what the total cost per year is, and identify unspent funds to this, or identify a non-statutory service that could be axed to pay for this.

I wouldn't try the 'disadvantaged from where we live' argument, for there will be piles of counter-examples of how others have different experiences of different Council services because of where they live, and that will only divert attention from your cause.

JumpingThroughMoreHoops · 02/09/2012 09:47

his nearest catchment school 20 minutes away

Is this 20 mins walking or 20 mins by transport?

I'm quite evil - I make mine walk 4 miles in the snow, which takes 2 hours. There and back.

flow4 · 02/09/2012 09:56

This is one of my bug-bears too. In our area, transport to schools is free. If kids stayed on into 6th form, travel was still free. Then the LA shut all the sixth forms, and now all the kids have to travel to FE colleges, which are all further away, and transport is not free any more :( Angry
It was a real stretch for me last year - 3 days/week DS1 had to travel to a site that was a train journey then a bus ride away, and daily fares (even with a half-fare pass) were nearly a fiver.
In Wales, young people get free transport for as long as they are in full-time education. I don't understand how this is not also the case in England. And what will happen when they raise the school leaving age to 18 next year? It will be compulsory for kids to go, but some families will struggle financially to send them... :(

peanutMD · 02/09/2012 10:02

My 16 year old brother got a moped rather than fork put for a travel card.

Obviously higher outlay but its actually relatively cheap to run, uses about £8 of fuel a week but he goes around a lot at night too.

FuckityFuckFuck · 02/09/2012 10:02

we both work if we did not then travel costs would be free....

Nice little benefit dig there

Can you organise lift sharing? My sister and her DS's friends parents all take it in turns to drop off and collect them when they can. That way it works out that they only have to use public traansport a couple of days a week

peanutMD · 02/09/2012 10:05

I wouldn't say that was a benefit dig, more of a dig at the system.

I've moaned about that too when DS misses out on things that friends children get to do because they don't work.

But anyway that's a whole nuther thread :o

Original poster
t1zzy · 02/09/2012 10:06

20 mins by coach ish sometimes more...

OP posts:
Kayano · 02/09/2012 10:07

I don't think it's a benefit dig, she's just stating the facts. There are a lot of good schemes like that