90-minute wait for school bus

Children attending a school in Cumbria are being forced to wait 90 minutes after their lessons finish for a bus to take them home.

Parents in Dearham claim a new county council deal with a local bus operator means a difficult journey home for about 30 pupils of Netherhall comprehensive school in Maryport - about three miles away.

A 300-name petition has been submitted to Cumbria County Council, demanding urgent action to resolve the situation.

Changes to services in the area, agreed by Cumbria County Council, mean no bus is available for pupils who have to use public transport to get from Netherhall school to Dearham.

County councillor Alan Clark, who represents the Dearham area, said: "It looks like neither the staff working for the education department nor the county council's public transport team, have understood how arrangements actually worked for pupils at Netherhall School from the Dearham area.

'Parents' responsibility'

"The change in the school pupil transport contract means that school pupils who have to pay their bus fare, are waiting another hour and a half after the end of the school day before they can get on a bus home.

"It's no use politicians and officers in Carlisle saying that it is parents' responsibility to see that their children get to school and safely home.

"We all know it's not that simple.

"There needs to be a big enough bus in a morning to take everyone, and a bus timed closer to the end of the school day."

Cumbria County Council says it is looking at the issue in an effort to find a quick solution.

Netherhall School has about 850 11 to 18-year-old pupils and draws pupils from the town and local villages within a five-mile radius.