SECONDARY school parents are appalled and angry at their children’s bus service which continues to refuse boarding to students trying to get to and from school.

Since September, students using the Xelabus service from Bishop’s Waltham to Swanmore College have faced ongoing issues including being “stranded” at the bus stop.

Changes in the boundaries for areas deemed safe to walk meant parents had to battle to get their children a bus pass from Hampshire County Council with the walk from the town following main roads and taking as long as 45 minutes.

Despite having bus passes, children have been refused boarding on multiple occasions due to the bus being at full capacity. But the council and the bus company have said there is no more money to provide another bus.

Wheelchair user and parent Alison Trott, invited the council to walk the route with her to prove how dangerous it is but received no response.

READ MORE: Disruptive start for Xelabus service for Kings’ School students in Colden Common

Alison’s son, who’s in year nine, is supposed to catch the bus from the top of Albany Road. The concerned parent said: “It’s absolutely appalling, I’ve never experienced such a sheer lack of duty of care from school, Hampshire transport and also the bus company. I think all three organisations should be ashamed of themselves. They are all well aware of the situation that has been going on.

“As a parent I feel I have failed my child. His focus is not there, he is absolutely panicking. He’s been so upset because he does not want to be late to school.

“Within the first three weeks a bus, which wasn't full, went straight past the stop on three occasions within the first three weeks. It didn't pick up my son or other children, so we had to scramble to try and get a neighbour to take the children to school on time.

Alison is now reconsidering where to send her daughter when she starts secondary school next and year and said she would not advise anyone to send their child to Swanmore College due to this experience.

Fellow parent Hannah Dear, who lives with her 11-year-old son in Marlow Road, also has a bus pass. She added: “A number of times he has had to walk home from school as the bus has been at capacity and has left him stranded. I’m the manager of a care home and I rely on the bus to get him home safely. The route he’s required to walk is dangerous and not safe.

“I have contacted the school, Xelabus and Hampshire County Council and have received nothing back. It’s a serious safeguarding issue and no one is accepting responsibility.”

Xelabus’ managing director, Gareth Blair, said: “This is a very busy popular bus service.  It is wholly commercial with no subsidy attached. Unfortunately, we have no additional resources to provide duplicate buses on this service. 

“We have reached out to Hampshire County Council to fund an additional bus, but this has been rejected. We therefore operate the highest capacity vehicle we have available. We produced marketing material for the bus service advising students to use the Stagecoach 69 or the X9 bus service to prevent overcrowding.

“It is not in our interest to leave anyone stranded, but we can only carry the legal limit  and we urge Hampshire County Council and Swanmore College to reconsider providing an additional bus.”

In spite of continuous claims from students and parents, the managing director found “there have only been a handful of occasions the bus has reached full capacity.”

Xelabus liaised with the school and council at the beginning of term when they realised how busy the bus would be.

Swanmore College has been contacted for comment.

SEE ALSO: Pub battles to postpone road closure to save business ahead of busiest season

Executive lead member for transport and environment strategy for Hampshire County Council, Cllr Edward Heron, said: “I sympathise with the students affected by this issue but also with the bus operators who are experiencing rising costs and driver shortages and are having to make difficult decisions about running services at this time.

“As a direct consequence of these challenging circumstances, Xelabus handed back the majority of their local bus contracts in Hampshire and made changes to frequencies and routes on their commercial services from September. The frequency of the X9/X10 service that goes between Bishop's Waltham and Swanmore College was halved. The changes made by the bus company mean that there is one less vehicle operating to/from Swanmore College. The reduced capacity means that students are experiencing a lower level of service.

“The council has no additional funding available to meet the rising costs and the recent national budget confirmed this is unlikely to change. Nevertheless, the council plans to retender a service with potential changes being made by the spring. We will work with the operators who express interest in tendering, other funding bodies including the city council, parishes and college to explore options for resolving this issue.”

The cost of a return ticket has increased from £2 to £2.40 this week (starting November 29) which parents have said they’d be willing to pay if the service was reliable.