Bus firm warns it could pull school buses serving Coggeshall amid row with Honywood School
Operator says withdrawal is likely if the school continues its approach
A bus firm has slammed a school’s approach to raising concerns about its service, after a letter was sent to parents. Honywood School in Coggeshall has called for action over claims of overcrowding, delays, and increasing costs on the buses many pupils use to travel to and from school.
Bus service provider Central Connect and Essex County Council have been asked to address what have been described as serious breaches of statutory obligations around punctuality and safety on bus services to and from Honywood School in Coggeshall.
But Central Connect has now hit back at the school, describing its approach as “combative”, and claiming they cannot work to resolve concerns if “Honywood continue to spread sensationalist and inaccurate information.”
The school has previously claimed overcrowding led to a child being injured while standing in the aisle of an overcrowded school bus service on a trip in September. Since the start of the new school year, parents have also raised concerns about above inflation increases to £999 for annual bus passes – even though 812 services are often so over-crowded pupils are unable to board. One Year 7 child was injured after being forced to stand on an overcrowded bus and then falling over.
There have also been complaints of the removal of monthly payment schemes meaning those parents who are least well off paying more. Some pupils who receive free bus pass travel entitlement from Essex County Council have been directed to travel on the longer 813 bus route, rather than the 812 bus. This means pupils travelling between the Kelvedon and Feering area and Honywood would face a journey of around an hour rather than 20 minutes.
A letter sent to parents last month signed jointly by the school’s headteacher James Saunders and MP Priti Patel said previously: ”The chaos over school transport since the start of term has been very concerning. We’ve received plenty of complaints about pupils not being picked up on time, overcrowding on buses, those buses being too full to pick up pupils leaving them stranded, injuries sustained by pupils standing on buses, the forcing of pupils onto longer bus routes and the impact of huge cost increases on your household finances.
“These matters are being raised by us with Essex County Council and with Central connect directly as we work together to press for a resolution to these issues. The safe travel of pupils to and from school is a priority for us. The levels of service and performance from Central Connect is unacceptable and we need to see Essex County Council get a grip on these issues and resolve them.
“So far, the engagement from Central Connect and the council has yet to yield any changes or improvements. But that will not stop us from pressing for improvements and the better bus services your children deserve and need and which many of you are paying huge costs for.”
However Central Connect has now warned the service may end up stopping entirely if the school continues with its current tactic described as aiming for “ “unrealistic expectations”. A statement said: “Our bus services to Honywood School are not commissioned or funded by the school, therefore they have no formal role to play in how the services are delivered.
“Their combative approach is disappointing, and not conducive to achieving a resolution. Whilst we seek to work in partnership with all the schools we serve, we cannot do this whilst Honywood continue to spread sensationalist and inaccurate information.
“We are committed to delivering a safe, reliable and compliant bus service, and that is what we are delivering. We acknowledge some teething issues towards the start of the term, which we have now resolved, but now respectfully suggest that the school’s approach is one of unrealistic expectations which, if they continue to pursue, is likely to result in the withdrawal of commercial bus services to Honywood School, leaving only buses for students entitled to free home to school transport.
“We would urge the school to stop escalating the situation with inflammatory communications and instead engage with us, whilst recognising that as they are not paying for the bus services in question, they are not the organisation with the right to determine how those services are provided.”
A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “These are commercial services which are regulated by the Traffic Commissioner and Bus Users UK, not the county council.
“However, we have met with the bus operator and raised these serious service failures. We have also met with the headteacher and explained the limited role Essex County Council has in these circumstances, including which bodies the issues should be raised to.”