Mother left 'panicked' by council admin error

Sabiha Aziz said she had experienced multiple problems with the travel assistance service

A mother has described being left in a state of "worry, panic and confusion," after receiving a council letter threatening to withdraw special school transport that she had paid for.

Sabiha Aziz said her heart "just sank" after receiving the demand for payment from Birmingham City Council.

The local authority said the letter was sent due to an administrative error and that it would apologise to any families who received it.

Mrs Aziz said it was the latest in a series of problems with the administration of the service, describing it as "absolutely diabolical".

"You're like, here we go again. We just can't seem to have a period of time where we don't have some sort of issue with the travel," she explained.

The transport for her son and daughter who have special educational needs was "absolutely vital" to get to school on time, she added.

"And so, you know, one [problem] gets sorted, and then there'll be an issue with the other one.

"And then you get through that, and then there'll be an issue with the first one, and these range from all sorts of things, quite severe issues with the bus not turning up."

Birmingham City Council apologised to parents for the administration error

In 2020, a group of head teachers wrote to the city council saying they had no confidence in the school transport service for children with special needs.

It followed cases where some pupils were not picked up from home and others dropped off at the wrong school.

The mother-of-three said she had been experiencing problems like last-minute cancellations and a lack of communication with the service since she started using it more than 10 years ago.

"I'm thinking about not using [the transport] because it is so stressful to use," she added.

Birmingham City Council said families whose children are aged 16-18 and qualify for travel assistance are required to make a financial contribution to their transport.

"At the end of December letters were sent to families who had not yet paid the contribution to remind them to make payment," the authority said.

"Unfortunately, letters were also sent to some families who had already paid," it added.

The apology letter had "made the situation worse" for some parents, Mrs Aziz said.

She explained that she had contacted the council on their behalf explaining that some had been unable to pay for transport via direct debit.

"I'm a full-time parent carer and I have no life because I spend all my days fixing their errors."