Nightmare trip to school every day

A MOTHER has warned that Russian roulette is being played with the lives of her three young children after they were told to walk to school along an unlit and unpaved lane with a 70mph speed limit.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Feb 2008, 16:17 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 19:01 BST

Nine-year-old Jade Reynolds and her younger brother and sister, Danni (5) and Spencer (4), also face trekking along the bank of the A27 to get to their lessons.

The journey has been deemed safe by county council officials. They have withdrawn the siblings' free daily transport from their Fontwell home to their local school in Slindon.

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Jade has been catching the minibus to Slindon CE Primary School every schoolday from Arundel Road at 8.40am and returning at about 3.45pm for the past five years.

She has been joined by Danni and, most recently, Spencer as they also began at the school. But county council officials have changed their original assessment of the journey as unsafe. They say the free travel will end after the Easter holiday for a journey they calculate is less than two miles.

The brother and sisters can stay on the minibus if their parents pay 54 each child every term for a seat. This amounts to 486 a year in all. If not, the children will have to walk or make other arrangements.

Their mother, Carly Reynolds (28), of Furlong Close, has appealed against the decision, even though she has been told it is unlikely to be reversed.

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"Walking the children to school will be playing Russian roulette with their lives if you get two cars coming along Park Lane at the same time," she stated.

"The whole matter is disgusting to me. It's all about cutting back but they are putting my children at risk.

"They say Park Lane is not that busy but, as well as everything else, it will be dark when my children are walking along there after school in the winter.

"The whole thing seems madness."

"I just hope I can sort something out," stated Mrs Reynolds. "Otherwise, my children will not be going to school after Easter."

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"I don't know how my children are going to get there. I'm not paying for them to catch a bus which has been free.

"But I share a car with my husband so that's not always available. And I'm not walking with my children along the route they suggest. That's just unsafe."

A county council spokeswoman said Mrs Reynolds's case was being reviewed. No further comment would be made.

Related topics:A27