A HEADTEACHER at a county primary school had to drive a number of his pupils home after their school bus was cancelled.

Last term, between 15 to 20 pupils at St Michael’s CE Primary School in Bodenham made use of a Lugg Valley bus service which took them from the school to the centre of the village for just 20p.

But when the new term started last week, they waited for a bus which did not arrive.

The reason was that the service was cut by Herefordshire Council as part of the authority’s £1 million savings plan.

Tim Wilson, headteacher at the school, said: “We had no warning that this was happening. So we had between 10 and 15 children waiting at the end of the school day and no bus to transport them.

“Some of the parents were able to come down but I ended up dropping some of the pupils off myself.

It’s not the best way to start a new term.”

Mr Wilson added there is no longer any bus service serving the village after 12.40pm each day.

Responding in a statement, Herefordshire council said public consultation was carried out and feedback sought from local groups when cuts to subsidised bus services were first considered.

“Among the proposals put forward was that to reduce the frequency of service 426 from 60 to every 90 minutes.

Unfortunately this now means that the bus service from Bodenham is reduced in the afternoon and no bus now passes the school at their finish time,” the statement read.

“The previous service was not a dedicated school bus. Council officers have contacted a bus company to determine if they have an available vehicle in the area at the school finish time.”

Elsewhere in the county, cuts to grass-cutting have also had an effect on bus services – with one unable to travel its usual route due to the high grass verges.

According to Balfour Beatty, all verges in the county are being cut currently and will be cut up until the end of September