Some children in Leicestershire will not be able to attend their local schools because the right application forms were not filled in time.
Eleven families in Lutterworth have discovered their children will have to attend schools miles away from home.
One three-year-old lives yards from the John Wycliffe Primary but has to travel nine miles (14km) to another school.
The county council said it was the parents' responsibility "to make timely enquiry about what they need to do".
Adequate information
Charlotte Ward's three-year-old daughter Olivia, who starts school in January, will have to travel nine miles to get to school although her older sister Harriet goes to nearby John Wycliffe Primary.
"She is not going to understand why her cousins and her big sister are in one school and she is being sent nine miles on her own in a taxi to another school," Mrs Ward said.
Claire Higgin said her younger daughter Connie, three, had also been refused a place in the school although her other daughter Nuala attends it.
She said: "I put Connie's name down at the school when she was only a couple of weeks old, and waited for the school to contact me like they did with my older daughter. And nobody ever did."
Leicestershire County Council said information was given to parents about applying for places, and it was up to them to find out what needed to be done.
"For admission purposes there must be deadlines for applications, and late applications have lowest priority," a spokesperson said.
The parents have appealed against the decision and are awaiting the county council's response.
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