PARENTS are fighting to keep a north Hull school bus service running, claiming their young children may be forced to walk home alone in the dark.
St Mary's College, in Cranbrook Avenue, has written to parents informing them of its decision to axe the 955 service from September, due to cuts in Hull City Council funding.
It is thought pupils will be able to use the public number 15 bus, which stops outside the school and serves Kingswood and Bransholme.
But parents fear, in bad weather, there may not be enough room on the bus to cater for the amount of pupils.
Lisa Walker, whose 12-year-old son, Luke, uses the 955, is campaigning to keep the service running.
She said: "It's true, as the school says, that the number 15 stops outside, but what happens in bad weather when more people want to use the bus?
"Potentially, our children will be left to walk home from school in the dark. We are concerned."
Lisa has spoken with Ellie Rose Travel Limited, which currently operates the 955 service on behalf of the school.
"I have to say Ellie Rose have been fantastic and have never let us down," she said.
"It has agreed to keep the service running if we can say 50 children will use the service.
"We are close, but we have not yet reached that target, so we are inviting parents to contact Ellie Rose and let them know if they want their children to carry on using this bus."
Lisa, who lives with her son in Kingswood, believes St Mary's College is sympathetic.
"They sounded pretty relieved when I spoke to them and told them that parents would like to keep the service running themselves, working with Ellie Rose," she said.
"They obviously have a tight budget and governors have decided the most feasible option is to scrap the 955 service."
Another campaigner, Emma Blount, also urged parents to make their views known.
She said: "Despite so many people opposing this, we still have not had enough people call Ellie Rose to warrant them to keep the bus service running.
"During transition week, the 955 bus had an awful lot of new pupils using it and it is quite worrying that these parents may be unaware the bus will not be running in September.
"The public number 15 will be over run with schoolchildren twice a day.
"We really would like to get the message out there to parents that we need their support in order to keep the bus running for all of our children, and all it takes is a simple phone call to Ellie Rose to put your child's name on the list."
Sheila Houghton, director at Ellie Rose Travel, said: "We have a really good rapport with St Mary's and the parents.
"The school has asked us to keep the 955 running for two weeks when pupils return in September.
"We are looking to do this. It will enable us to see if there is demand.
"Working with the school, we have sent letters out to parents, asking if their children would use the service."
No one from the school was available for comment.
• Parents of pupils wanting to use the 955 service should call Sheila Houghton at Ellie Rose Travel on 01482 851136.
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