A family has been left devastated after a school transport scheme they relied on for years came to an abrupt end, forcing them to consider giving up a job and potentially selling their home.
Dawn and Michael Hill, parents of a 14-year-old boy, used the 'purchase path scheme' to buy a spare seat on a school bus for their son, who attends a school outside his catchment area. The scheme ended following changes to Department for Transport (DfT) safety regulations, which now prohibit the sale of seats in vehicles that do not meet certain accessibility requirements.
Mrs Hill, 59, works shifts as a paediatric nurse, while her husband works shift patterns in a different industry. Their schedules make it impossible to take their son to school and pick him up, especially on several days a week.
Financial and emotional toll
Mrs Hill explained that her husband's hours are from 7:30am to 4:30pm, and he cannot take their son to school or collect him. She also cannot, as she does not get home until 10am. With no other viable options, they looked into private taxis, but the costs would quickly become unaffordable.
As the primary earner, Mrs Hill said her husband would have to give up his job. Although his work offers some flexibility, he would still lose hours and pay, and would still be unavailable to pick up their son, making the arrangement “unworkable”.
“We couldn’t afford it in the current day and age, we’d have to go without a lot of things. My son certainly wouldn’t have any basic holidays. We would potentially have to sell our home because we couldn’t afford the mortgage,” she said.
Impact on son's education and wellbeing
Without the scheme, her son's walk to the bus stop would double to roughly 1,000 yards, or just over half a mile, along a road with “no footpaths, no pavements [and] no lighting” and heavy traffic. Mrs Hill said her son is “very upset” about losing the purchase pass, as he loved the independence and the time with his friends on the bus.
With her son about to start his GCSE years, moving him to a different school would be “catastrophic”. The situation has caused Mrs Hill to lose sleep and added immense stress to her daily life.
Council and DfT responses
A spokesperson for the Vale of Glamorgan Council said: “The purchase pass scheme allowed parents to buy spare seats on dedicated school transport services where these were available. However, following changes to Department for Transport regulations, we are no longer able to offer these passes under the previous arrangements. Parents were informed in advance that these changes were coming into effect.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport added: “The Department for Transport has recently announced that operators may be able to apply for a new exemption scheme. If the exemptions are granted to our partner operators, we will review whether the purchase pass scheme can be reintroduced on routes where spare seats are available. As with all home-to-school transport, parents who choose a school outside of their catchment area are responsible for making travel arrangements in line with the council’s policies.”
