Bridport: Pupils stranded waiting for bus from Dorchester school

Children say that they have had to catch First’s 31 service but that it has often been too full for them to get on at the end of the day.

The issue comes after the Thomas Hardye School stopped a special service it used to commission from Bluebird for pupils.

It is now in talks with First to rectify the problems.

Mum Marion Howlett, of Crock Lane, said her daughter, sixthformer Martha, 16, was among those who have been unable to get on the 4.25pm from Mansell Square in Poundbury.

Mrs Howlett said: “There were 11 of them left at the bus stop because there was no room the other day.”

She added: “It is stressful for the pupils.

“All the children are lined up at the bus stop. They are all jostling to get on and get home.

“It is not good enough if we have paid £400 for a bus pass.

“It also adds stress to the day that they don’t need.”

The 31 service is a commercial route with fare paying passengers run by First from Axminster to Weymouth via Bridport and Dorchester.

Pupils pay £400 for a concessionary pass rather than the £500 full rate. About 40 to 45 pupils from Bridport go to Thomas Hardye.

Deputy headteacher Ian Cornell said: “There have been problems for students coming from Brid-port.

“We are aware of the problem and we are trying to sort out the problem with First Bus and we have got a meeting with them next week.

“We had to change the service because of cuts in Government funding so we negotiated for the same price and a better bus pass for the students.

“But they are not being able to all get on the bus as they should be so we are trying to solve that problem.”

He said some pupils had been left behind in the afternoon and had to catch the next bus an hour later.

“We want them to be able to get home properly as they should.

“We are all trying to make sure that the service runs as it should.”

A spokesman for First said: “We would like to apologise for the problems that have arisen over the past couple of weeks with Service 31 and particularly with the ability of students to use the service to commute to and from school.

“We are aware that there has been an increased demand for this commercial service, which students are using following the loss of the bespoke school service that ran in previous years. “While it is normal to experience some teething problems at the beginning of any academic year, we are currently considering what solutions we may need to put in place to address the specific issues around Service 31. “This may possibly include altering the timetable of afternoon services to alleviate the pressure on particular journeys. “We are also meeting with the school to discuss any other possible solutions.”

Parents' concern over seatbelts

A PLEA has been made for more seatbelts on buses taking children to school in west Dorset.

Askerswell mum Jeanette Tewson is driving her five, eight and nine year old children to Loders School rather than send them on the bus.

She wants Dorset County Council to demand that the bus company its uses provides seatbelts on the school run.

Mrs Tewson said it was up to parents to bring the point home that safety was more important than money.

She added: “The council seems to be very concerned about the finance and the running of the buses but nobody seems concerned about the health and safety factor.”

Damory Coaches rec-ently took over the contract for school buses although its contract did not specify that there had to be seat belts provided.

Not all of Damory’s buses have seatbelts.

County councillor Coatsworth, who represents the Bride Valley ward, is taking the matter up with the county council’s safeguarding children board.

Loders joint head teacher Shirley Gibbs said she was supportive of parents’ plight.

She said: “It lies with the county. They have a moral obligation, that’s the key here.”

Damory business manager Jim Bell said: “In the contract specification there was nothing about a requirement for seatbelts so obviously there is no obligation for us.

“We do have some vehicles in the fleet that are fitted with seatbelts which we put in on the runs we can but to put seatbelts on the buses now would result in quite a hefty cost per vehicle – around £5,000 per small bus.

“There is no legal obligation for school buses to have seatbelts and it was certainly was not in the specification for the tenders.”

A Dorset County Council spoke-sman said: “Many buses that operate school routes are also used on public bus routes.

“Public buses with more than 17 seats are not legally obliged to provide seatbelts to carry both adults and children.

"We applied stringent criteria to the reprocurement of all our passenger transport contracts.

“We did not specify the provision of seatbelts as to have done so would have excluded many companies that operate public bus routes from the process.

“Our main contractor Damory Coaches has said it will make sure vehicles serving first schools will have seatbelts and we are checking that this is being fulfilled.”

&bull THE next meeting of the West Dorset Western Area Transport Action Group (WATAG) is on Thursday, September 22.

It will be at the WI Hall, North Street, Bridport, at 6.30pm and is open to people interested in public transport matters.

There will also be a review of items raised at the previous meetings and there will be the chance for people to raise questions.