School bus axed days before new term

First Bus withdrew the 978 bus route used by school children in Felixstowe to get to their school in Ipswich with just a few days' notice, the school said

A commercial school bus which is used by more than 100 children has been cancelled at short notice ahead of the new term, a school has said.

The 978 service from Felixstowe in Suffolk stops at St Alban's Catholic High School and Northgate High School in Ipswich and was cancelled on 31 August, just three days before the term started.

St Alban's head teacher Simon Corless said the removal of the bus service came as a "surprise" to the school and they were "extremely disappointed".

First Eastern Buses, part of the First Group, run the service they said it "noted concerns raised", adding the alternative option of the "75 route is nearly identical for the majority of pupils".

First Group runs bus services throughout Suffolk

The 978 service runs in the morning and evenings and is a dedicated bus for pupils at a number of schools, but is not subsidised by Suffolk County Council.

Mr Corless described it as a "vital link" for students who attend St Alban's from the East of Ipswich and through to Felixstowe.

"The bus is always full and often oversubscribed on homeward journeys and I cannot understand the reasoning behind the change," he said.

"I have had reports of difficulties for parents and students in Felixstowe that have affected whole families as they grapple with the consequences of the very late notice of withdrawal of the service."

David Cope is worried about the safety of his daughters having to take alternative bus routes to school

One of parents struggling is David Cope from Felixstowe. He has two daughters at the school and said they felt "badly let down".

"There was very little notice and no consultation," he said.

"It's not just an inconvenience there's also the safety issue. The alternative bus options mean it is a lottery if my children are going to get a space."

Mr Cope said his daughters had to be collected from school already this week as they could not get on the public bus service home.

Labour Councillor Rosie Smithson says the communication has been "terrible" from First Eastern Busses over the withdrawal of route 978

Parents who used the 978 bus for their children pay for a term pass which can be used on other First Group bus routes.

They have been contacting Rosie Smithson, the Labour councillor for Western Felixstowe on East Suffolk Council.

She said due to the short notice "parents were sent into a panic because they had assumed there was a route to school for their children which suddenly was no longer available in the same way".

She added: "It caused a huge amount of upset to a lot of people.

"It is terribly unfair, very poor service and the communication quite unbelievably bad."

Mr Corless said he hoped that First would "re-examine" its decision and the school may need to sort an alternative operator to provide a bus service.

Northgate High School was also approached for comment.

Communications "fell short"

A spokesperson for First Group said: "We're asking students attending St. Albans school to walk 300 metres or five minutes walk to the nearest available bus stops located on Heath Road and at the hospital.

"Currently", the part of the route which services Northgate School is significantly underutilised and after analysing our data, the decision was made to stop the service.

The company acknowledged it did not communicate its decision with the schools involved, adding: "We recognise that we fell short with our communications with the schools. We'll be learning from this and will ensure communication is improved."