Families win bus pass row

Three families in Armitage have won their fight for free bus passes for children attending Hagley Park Sports College in Rugeley.

Staffordshire County Council re-measured the distance from their homes to the school and found it was under the three miles needed to qualify for a pass.

Jane Boughey-Sandel, of Rugeley Road, was told her home was 2.97 miles from the school and they would have to to start paying for their 14-year-old daughter Georgia's transport.

She had had a free pass for the previous three years.

Two neighbouring families with children who have started this term at the school were told they would have to pay for their transport as well.

Mrs Boughey-Sandel said she and her husband had faced paying £390 for a pass without even a guaranteed place on the bus for Georgia.

The families' case was taken up by parish council member Richard Cox with the county.

Mrs Boughey-Sandel heard on Friday that the county council had relented and they and the two other neighbouring families would get the free passes restored.

She said that one of the families who had already paid for a pass would get the money repaid. But the reprieve will only be until next September.

"We felt we were being unfairly treated. The council has realised that we had a good case," she added.

County council spokesman Tom Hobbins said today that the families had initially been given a 12-week stay before they lost the free transport.

"This had now been extended to the end of the academic year next summer, but they will have to begin paying for the bus from the start of the 2010-2011 academic year next September."