Council 'segregates' over bus rides
A council has been accused of segregation by parents after children of different religious faiths were made to travel on separate buses.St Benet Biscop Catholic High School, in Northumberland, had previously allowed Catholic and non-Catholic pupils who live more than three miles away to travel on the same bus to school.
This service was free for the Catholic families and other parents paid for their children to use it.
But after a re-tendering process by Northumberland County Council, only Catholic pupils are now allowed to use the council buses. As a result the school has had to pay for extra buses to make sure all the pupils can attend.
Sowmya Pulle, a marketing and communications adviser, has a son Niran, 15, who is one of the non-Catholic pupils who now has to get a separate bus.
She told The Journal: "I can't believe in this century that a council can go ahead and support segregation, because that is what it is."
But a council spokesman said that free transport was only available to those pupils of Catholic faith and who lived more than three miles away.
He said: "Up to the end of the last academic year the school buses that were paid for by the council were larger than required and as such there were plenty of spare seats for non-entitled fare paying children to travel on. Unfortunately, in the interests of making cost savings, these arrangements have had to end.
"The council has no duty to provide additional capacity on its contracted school transport vehicles to carry non-entitled (fare paying) children as well. The council makes transport arrangements for all those children who qualify for free transport only.
"It is not the council's responsibility to make or maintain any arrangements for non-entitled children attending Northumberland schools. This is in line with statutory and council policy. There is a distinction between those entitled to free transport and those not entitled to free transport which include non-Catholics and also Catholics who live within three miles of the school."
She told The Journal: "I can't believe in this century that a council can go ahead and support segregation, because that is what it is."
But a council spokesman said that free transport was only available to those pupils of Catholic faith and who lived more than three miles away.
He said: "Up to the end of the last academic year the school buses that were paid for by the council were larger than required and as such there were plenty of spare seats for non-entitled fare paying children to travel on. Unfortunately, in the interests of making cost savings, these arrangements have had to end.
"The council has no duty to provide additional capacity on its contracted school transport vehicles to carry non-entitled (fare paying) children as well. The council makes transport arrangements for all those children who qualify for free transport only.
"It is not the council's responsibility to make or maintain any arrangements for non-entitled children attending Northumberland schools. This is in line with statutory and council policy. There is a distinction between those entitled to free transport and those not entitled to free transport which include non-Catholics and also Catholics who live within three miles of the school."
© 2013 Press Association