Leicestershire County Council (21 006 938)

Statement Upheld School transport 22-Mar-2022

Summary: Mrs B complains the Council removed a fare paying school bus service without consulting parents. Mrs B says she relies on the service to get her child to school and has now had to change her working hours. The Ombudsman finds fault in the Council not consulting on the change and not reviewing its position following a further exemption.

Gloucestershire County Council (21 006 693)

Statement Not upheld School transport 18-Mar-2022

Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to not provide her child with free school transport. There was no fault by the Council.

London Borough of Ealing (21 017 256)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School transport 15-Mar-2022

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide her son with free transport to school. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council for us to be able to question the merits of its decisions.

Surrey County Council (21 010 100)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School transport 14-Mar-2022

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide her son with free transport to school. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council for us to be able to question the merits of its decisions.

Durham County Council (21 008 663)

Statement Upheld School transport 02-Mar-2022

Summary: Mr X complained that the Council failed to provide suitable home to school transport. There was no fault in the Council’s decision making. It offered Mr X’s child a door-to-door taxi, which was suitable for the child’s needs. The Council was not legally required to offer transport that fitted around Mr X’s work or the family’s arrangements for their other children to get to school. There was some fault in the Council’s complaint handling for which it has offered Mr X a suitable time and trouble payment.

Essex County Council (21 002 061)

Statement Upheld School transport 25-Feb-2022

Summary: Mrs A complains the Council has not provided the travel payments agreed to support her son to attend school. Mrs A complains the Council has not considered her son’s Special Educational Needs in its decision not to provide the agreed travel. This meant she had to pay out of pocket to bring her son to school when the Council should have partially funded travel. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for failing to apply a consistent approach to its discretionary travel policy for Child X. The Ombudsman recommends the Council reconsider Mrs A’s requests without fault and pay Mrs A a financial sum in recognition of the distress and uncertainty. It should also consider service improvements.

Essex County Council (21 008 424)

Statement Upheld School transport 22-Feb-2022

Summary: Miss M complained the Council wrongly refused to provide free home to school transport for her son, C, because she did not put the second nearest school as a preference when applying for a school place. The Ombudsman has found fault in the way the Council considered its decision to refuse transport. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise to Miss M and offer her a fresh appeal with a different council officer.

Worcestershire County Council (21 001 400)

Statement Upheld School transport 17-Feb-2022

Summary: Mrs T complains about how the Council dealt with her application for home to school transport for her child. The Council failed to properly apply the relevant law when it originally refused to award Mrs T’s child school travel assistance. It also refused to backdate and reimburse the travel costs incurred by Mrs T from the date it made its initial error. This has caused Mrs T distress, frustration and time and trouble and financial loss. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

Wiltshire Council (21 003 573)

Statement Upheld School transport 14-Feb-2022

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to provide his daughter, Z, with appropriate transport to school and respite care between January and July 2021 after it could not provide a suitably trained passenger assistant to carry her medication. We found fault in the Council’s failure to provide appropriate transport for Z and in the way it considered its duty to provide suitable transport. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £600 to recognise the inconvenience and distress caused, and to remind relevant staff of its statutory obligations when providing transport.

Essex County Council (21 002 413)

Statement Upheld School transport 10-Feb-2022

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to promptly reinstate school transport for his disabled child and poor complaint handling. We have found the Council was at fault because it did not carry out a proper assessment of risk and did not respond to his complaint properly. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr X to acknowledge the distress caused and review its practices.