Missed out on free school bus pass by 0.1 miles

Half_Price_Sky

My gf's eldest daughter begins secondary school today. We got back home off holiday on Saturday night only to find a letter from the council advising that they've refused our application for a free school bus pass on the grounds that we don't live 3 or more miles away from the school. Apparently the government considers anything upto 3 miles as "reasonable walking distance" for a child of 8 years and above.

I checked Google Map and it lists the walking distance between our house and her school as a close 2.9 miles. How frustrating can you get?

We're naturally looking to appeal it. Google Map and a couple of others for some reason have the driving distance as being 3.3 miles yet it seems to be more or less the same route. Michelin Map has the walking distance as exactly 3.0 miles but seems to be a slightly less simplified route.

Another avenue we were considering exploring would be to claim that some of the route was unsafe meaning she'd have to go a slightly longer way which would take us over the golden 3 miles, although we're possibly clutching at straws here. The route does go past a park where a nine year old girl was tragically raped a year or two ago but the fella (albeit fortunately) was caught so they would no doubt claim it was "safe" again. Google Map also mentions that some of the walking route includes "missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths" although I'm not exactly sure which streets those are, I'll have to check that out.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas to help us with our appeal? Please no smart alec replies like move to the next street because you'll just be wasting your own time.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

unfortunately there has to be a cut off point, and you seem to be borderline, old folk complain about being a day out to qualify for the heating allowance and having to wait another year, just born too late.

Have a look here, scroll down a bit, you will find a link, to find a safe route in your area, see what it says re mileage.

If there are a few kids in your area in the same boat, maybe this is an idea.

paddedjohn

AFAIK the distance will be measured 'as the crow flies' so you are probably well too close to appeal successfully using that method.

nonnatus

I have been in exactly the same position and unfortunately, despite gathering proof from various mile-ometers and maps the school stuck to their guns and I can't say I blame them. As in life, there has to be a cut off somewhere and you can't please everyone.
Short of moving we had no choice but to lump it.

There were other villagers in the same boat though and we got together and organised a school taxi service on a rota basis. I take the kids on a tuesday and every other friday. Saves loads of time and petrol - might work for you??

seven-day-weekend

nonnatus wrote: »

I have been in exactly the same position and unfortunately, despite gathering proof from various mile-ometers and maps the school stuck to their guns and I can't say I blame them. As in life, there has to be a cut off somewhere and you can't please everyone.
Short of moving we had no choice but to lump it.

There were other villagers in the same boat though and we got together and organised a school taxi service on a rota basis. I take the kids on a tuesday and every other friday. Saves loads of time and petrol - might work for you??

Maybe this could also be done with cycling and keep everybody fit! Three miles is not too far to cycle and a parent could go as well to supervise.

Anubis_2

Does your local bus company not run a weekly pass? It cost me £4.75 per week on a bus pass provided by the bus company for each child of mine. I live 3.1 miles but never applied for the free pass. The weekly bus passes the bus companies provide save a fortune, and they last 7 days so your child can use the bus at weekends to visit their schoolfriends.

They will likely need to get a card showing they qualify for child fare, not sure, mine did, that cost £2 then it was just a case of paying ghe weekly amount for the weekly bus pass the bus company offered at the child fare rate.

SuziQ

I'm sorry if I am making an assumption here as you don't state this except when discussing the safety of her walking past a park, but is she going to be travelling alone at that age? I must be a helicopter mum as none of my children have walked to school alone-and that only being 3 streets-until they were in their last year of juniors at around 10 and a half or so (to get them used to making their own way to secondary as none wanted mum to accompany them there!)My ex used to run free school transport for a local authority and all the appeals there used to be dealt with by the education department, but he said in his experience it was rare for anyone to win an appeal.I don't know about now, but they used to use a sort of template to put over the map which showed who was in/out of the qualifying area-maybe you could ask how they measured the distance as a starting point to lodging your appeal as it may not be a fair method depending on the area you are living in.
Does the school organise a 'walking bus' or could you maybe start one yourselves? My son's school has a couple of those going from different directions, with a rota for parents to supervise and it works well and the kids love it.

nikki1520

Afraid it's always been this way- I didn't get a free pass, but the kid 8 houses up the road did. We walked to the bus stop together every morning! It is harsh if you're the wrong side of the line, but I guess it has to be somewhere. I do think they should have a lesser criteria for younger children though- as a teenager I was happy to walk the 3.4 miles it was to school (not being a crow, flying was out) but would have struggled to do the same distance as a 7-8 year old

newyearnewme_2

certainly our local council if the journey includes un-pavemented route then another route needs to be used.

mysk_girl

I won an appeal, they went out and measured it with a surveyors wheel. Also Mum refused to allow them to designate a route which would have been unlit after dark, result we were 18 yards over the 3 miles...

welshsue

I live within the mileage for automatic school transport but my local council have a vacant seat payment scheme. As long as there is room on the bus then my 4yr old can get transport. I am on DLA so don't pay for this. If we didn't get the transport we would have to drive him every day as we have no public transport and there are no footpaths through the village so we could not walk it. Might be worth seeing if your council do the vacant seat scheme