Child injured while being forced to stand on ‘overcrowded’ school bus
Parents say children are being left standing on fast roads, refused boarding and hit with soaring fares to reach Honywood School in Coggeshall
Last updated 25th Sep 2026
A child has been injured while standing in the aisle of an overcrowded school bus service. Bus service provider Central Connect and Essex County Council are now being 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.
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.
One parent said: “My main concern apart from the cost which has risen and the removal of monthly direct debit to ease financial pressure is that children are standing on 812 bus whilst travelling up and down the A12 and along A120. These are fast roads by nature and you wouldn’t drive a car without a seatbelt so why allow children to stand? It’s reckless.”
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 that pupils travelling between the Kelvedon and Feering area and Honywood would face a journey of around an hour rather than 20 minutes.
Another parent said: “This is the reality my children are facing every single school day. They are entitled to free school transport, yet they have been left standing at the bus stop because the bus was too full, faced delays and unreliable services, and their door-to-door journey, including walking and waiting, is consistently over an hour each way.
“They are 11 and 13 years old. They should not have to worry every morning about whether their bus will turn up, whether they’ll be allowed on it, or whether they’ll get to school on time. Putting Feering children on the 813 is not a solution if it makes an already unreasonable journey even longer.
“And winter is approaching. These children will soon be making parts of this journey in the dark, in poor weather, along a walking route that is not safe or suitable. We should not have to wait for something to happen before this is taken seriously.
“Our children are not numbers on a passenger spreadsheet. Essex County Council and Central Connect need to act now. Provide sufficient capacity and a sensible route that gets these children to and from their designated school safely and within a reasonable time. Enough talking. These children need a safe, workable solution now – before winter makes an already unacceptable situation worse.”
Central to the school’s complaints are issues around safety and a failure to meet statutory transport obligations including around punctuality and safety.
In July 2025: A child was carried past the designated A12 stop despite the bell being rung in time adding roughly an hour to the journey.
February 2026: After Feering pupils were transferred onto the 812, Central Connect told parents in writing that “all pupils will have an available seat on our standard double-decker” and promised to allocate a larger double-decker with extra seats. The school says that vehicle was never seen in service. Children have continued to stand for the full length of two fast roads since February 2026.
In the week of 15 September 2026 a year seven pupil was injured after falling on the bus while standing.
There have been an increasing number of incidents where children have been refused boarding. On September 10 two children were refused. On September 15 one child was refused and on September 16 four children were refused boarding on the morning 812 despite holding valid tickets.
On at least two occasions in the week of September 7 to 15 children unable to board the 812 were later diverted onto the 813 terminating in Chappel or the 814 – requiring them to be driven away from home before being brought back. On one occasion this meant them arriving home after 5:30 pm.
The school has added that Central Connect has admitted route 812 has been oversubscribed yet only pupils entitled to free travel have been moved to the longer route 813. It also says on September 14 Kelvedon pupils due for collection at 7.54am were not picked up until approximately 8.40am – a 46 minute delay on a single schedule service.
Central Connect’s position is that the 812 is a registered local bus service open to the public – entitling it, it says, to sell tickets beyond seated capacity and carry standing passengers. But Essex County Council relies on the same service to discharge it of duty to eligible pupils.
The school says neither party has yet answered the direct question of what exactly has Essex County Council commissioned and what capacity has it contracted for.
Because the 812/814 are registered as public services, the school says any member of the public can board what is, in substance, the schools dedicated transport – a concern raised directly by the school’s dedicated safeguarding lead to Essex County Council’s education department.
The school has also argued that a pricing model penalised the families least able to pay. Central Connect withdrew monthly payment for annual passes leaving families to choose between £999 upfront or a tap fair of £33 a week – £6.60 day – versus £5.26 a day if paid annually.
It says this is a penalty of around 25 per cent on families who cannot find £999 in one instalment. The school has said: “Essex County Council’s arrangement for eligible pupils must let them “travel in reasonable safety and comfort, and without undue stress, strain or difficulty”.
“Standing children for the length of the A12/A120, refusing boarding to entitled pupils on three separate dates in a single week, and a 46 minute delay on a single service are each capable of preaching that standard – cumulatively, they plainly do.
“The guidance also requires reasonable practicable control measures through risk assessment – there is no evidence Essex County Council has reviewed or updated a risk assessment since the Year 7 fall was reported. The guidance sets a specific, numerical benchmark that route 813 now breaches directly: the maximum journey time for a child of secondary school age should be 75 minutes each way. The evening journey reported on route 813 is up to 80 minutes, for a school three miles from home.
“The guidance’s own worked examples are instructive. Where a comparable local authority “decided it is not reasonable to exceed the recommended journey time” for a distressed child with special educational needs, “reinstate their original travel arrangements” – precisely the remedy sought here.”
Priti Patel MP, who has written to Central Connect and Essex County Council on behalf of families affected, said: “This situation is unacceptable, chaotic, and disruptive to families and pupils travelling to and from school.
“The confusion and chaos caused is affecting pupils and causing anxiety. The reports of pupils not being able to board buses and some facing long journeys is worrying and both Central Connect and Essex County Council need to work together to find a solution.
“Honywood is a popular school and with new housing and a growing population in this part of Essex, action is needed to ensure good transport links exist to get our young people to school safely and on time.”
A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “These are commercial services which are regulated by the Traffic Commissioner, not the county council.
“However, these are serious service failures which we will raise urgently with the operator, who we are due to meet with in the coming days. The operator needs to address these issues. Any bus operator can register a service commercially, including where a service may compete with an existing one.”
Central Connect has been asked for comment.