To ask if anyone else has won a school transport appeal?

[ChrisTrepidation]

My twins will be starting primary in September, just after their 5th birthday.

I have just received a letter to say they have been refused a place on the school bus. The grounds being that we live just under the 2 miles from school cut off point. If we lived at the other end of the street they'd have been fine.

The only available route from my village to the schools is along a country road. The road is national speed limit, unlit and in places had a path so narrow and worn that you have to walk in single file. It also has overgrown bushes that require you to step into the road in places.

I will be appealing on the basis that the route is unsafe. However I'm seriously worried about what we are going to do if it fails. I don't drive (failed my test three times this year. I'm just useless) and the public transport in our village is hideously unreliable.

Has anybody here successfully won and appeal and if so how did you word it? I need to get this right!

Here is an example route safety assessment:

https://democracy.hants.gov.uk/documents/s16456/Appendix%201%20-%20Route%20Assessment%20-%20Appellant%20A.pdf

Over 10 years ago, but we won after we asked for a safety assessment. They told me that they agreed it was unsafe, as they had come out and driven the route themselves. My son was 7 when we moved to the area, it was the closest school available at approx 1.8 miles. They continued the transport after he turned 8 too - but then we moved and no longer qualified.

I think for us there was no footway along the road the majority of the way. I later discovered that there was a path running parallel to the road at the edge of the adjacent woods. This path was used by local secondary school pupils and commuters to the station also heading the same way. I'm not sure if Transportation were aware of this path or if it didn't meet the safety criteria.

I appealed on behalf of someone else as part of my job role and won. He had been rejected on first application and then appeal about 4 times. I found the email address and sent a huge accompanying email giving all the details, the length of time for the children to walk, the impact this was having on their energy levels and concentration, the safetu aspect etc. It got approved the following day. I was polite but firm and gave as many facts as I could and essentially appealed to their human side as opposed to the black and white strict rules based on distance. I asked them to apply common sense but in a more polite way than that. Good luck

I think you are foolish for moving somewhere where you can’t get your own kids to school. The guidelines are 2 miles and you must be aware of how far you live. You are not entitled to free transport. You could offer to pay and still use school transport. Or as above try the safety route but you’d get nowhere in my la.

OP - I hope you get good advice from this thread and win your appeal. Do you mind me.being nosy and asking how you get by in day to day life? I have always lived in cities so just curious. E.g
How to.do you library, playgrounds, etc

Maybe the OP didn't have any choice? She might live in Council/Housing Association housing.

I think you'd have more chance of reporting the bushes to Highways to get them cut back. Here we can report on Fix my Streets - not sure if that's just a local initiative though but there will be a way of reporting to your LA.
Our LA is cutting back massively on school transport costs as they are huge due to being in a rural county. The latest is the proposal to charge parents of children with SN for transport to the SN school provision in the county town (in a huge rural county) where the child attends nursery (places from 2 1/2) or 6th form (usually 16-19). These children do not have the option to attend local settings and often travel up to 28 miles to school/nursery.

Did they say no to transport totally or just no to it being free? My kids all go on a school bus as we are well over 3miles away but there are some kids who live closer but they are able to pay for a bus pass instead but that is because their are spaces. It is worth asking.

Sounds like your county are making up its own rules

https://contact.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/hometooschooltransport.pdf

I appealed and lost
I even got a supporting letter from the police who said the route was unsafe
I got them to re measure the route (my house was 3’10” over the mileage!!! To make it more annoying it’s measured from school gate to end of my property - if they’d measured from my front door we would have won
I ended up paying for a place on the same bus but had to book early each year to get allocated a place

As there is a path then I would get onto the council and insist they cut the hedge back so you can walk safely.

Get your MP involved too and make sure the path is improved.

The issue here would only be about the safety of the route. Lack of bus services wouldn't be relevant because the expectation would be that be that you would do the walk on foot. The expectation would be that an adult would accompany them so you would need to show that it still wouldn't be safe with an adult supervising.

The other option would be to see if there are paid places available on the school bus although the council doesn't have to provide these and they can be removed at any time.