Parents step up free bus campaign

Parents and children protested last month at the cuts

Parents and children fighting plans to withdraw free bus travel are staging a second protest in East Renfrewshire.

Children who live less than two miles from their school will no longer be entitled to free travel from August.

Parents have formed the School Transport Action Group to fight the plans and staged a protest at the council headquarters.

They want the cost-cutting decision reversed but the local authority said it "had no choice".

Parents and children gathered from 1830 BST at East Renfrewshire Council's headquarters in Giffnock.

They said the council had failed to consider the safety of their children.

A spokesman for the group said: "No risk assessments whatsoever have been carried out by East Renfrewshire Council.

"By definition they're perfectly happy to expose vulnerable primary school children to potential danger on our already heavily congested roads."

The local authority plans to charge £1 per child per day for school bus travel.

Free buses are currently provided to children who live more than a mile from their school.