School children were left stranded as transport ‘chaos’ took hold on the first day of term.
Pupils – many starting a new school – faced confusion about where they were catching buses from and on which routes they were going.
Central Bedfordshire Council is in the process of ‘re-tendering’ the bus routes and as a result the timetables – particularly those serving the villages of Shillington, Henlow and the surrounding areas – have changed.
Parents were sent a copy of the new timetable last week and as such made arrangements for their children to wait at the allocated stops at the set times.
However, unbeknown to many of them, it is thought the council sent out a revised version on Tuesday which a lot of parents didn’t receive until Thursday – the day most of the schools went back.
Helen Wuidart’s children were waiting where they were told to, but the bus didn’t come and pick them up.
In the end, their childminder had to take them to Robert Bloomfield School.
Mrs Wuidart, who lives in Apsley End Road, Shillington, finally received the adapted timetable but as a result of reducing two bus services to one, her children, aged ten and 12, now have to cross a ‘dangerous’ u-bend in order to catch the bus.
She said: “My children are now effectively running the gauntlet in crossing a very busy and dangerous junction.
“I don’t understand how somebody at the council could think this is appropriate.” To further confuse matters, children were issued timetables at school on Thursday which are said to be ‘completely different’ to the ones sent out in the post.
Mrs Wuidart said: “Why didn’t the council send these out in July so then we could have sorted these issues out?” Liberal Democrat councillor for Silsoe and Shillington Alison Graham said: “It’s just been complete chaos.
“On Thursday my 12-year-old grandson was even asked by a bus driver where to go because he didn’t know.
“I’m going to be asking the council just what money they are saving by doing this.” Although this ‘re-tendering’ began earlier in the year, the transport consultant – who we revealed last month was being paid up to £54,000 for just FOUR months work is now overseeing the project.
Brian Morrison, who lives in Cotton End, said: “The school bus situation at Samuel Whitbread Community College on Thursday afternoon was chaotic.
“All schools were made aware of these changes and that this would affect entitlement for pupils living outside the authority area. The council is responsible for transporting more than 7,500 children to and from school every day, but by-and-large this was done without any major problems.
“We accept that there were some teething problems on the first day, but considering the number of new contracts in place, this was expected and has been dealt with.
“We have also been made aware of some road safety issues that have been raised by the community and we are currently addressing these.”
