A smiling north-east youngster caught the bus to school with his friends yesterday – after the Press and Journal stepped in to end a council row.
Charlie Johnston used to travel to Whitehills Primary with his pals on a council-run coach until a review of school transport left the six-year-old out in the cold, despite living only yards from the bus route.
Mum Susan contacted the Press and Journal after many fruitless conversations with the local council office, and within hours of Charlie’s story hitting the headlines the youngster was allocated a seat.
Last night Mrs Johnston said: “I got a phone call from the school at lunchtime on Friday saying he’d be on the bus as of Monday.
“When he got the bus in the morning he was so chuffed.”
Charlie is an out-of-zone pupil whose parents applied for him to attend Whitehills Primary School.
Despite them already paying an up-front fee of £102.50 for one year’s academic bus travel, Charlie’s application was considered low priority by the local authority’s transport team.
Instead Mrs Johnston was forced to take the long way to her job at Banff Academy each morning so she could drop Charlie at the school gates.
The Johnston family had no qualms about covering the cost of the bus pass and simply wanted to see their “heartbroken” son enjoy a trip to school with his friends.
Mrs Johnston said: “Charlie’s happy so I’m delighted. The bus driver was pleased to see him getting on as well. I think the Press and Journal made the difference between him being on the bus this week or on the bus next month.”
Last week council transport boss Ewan Wallace said spaces on school buses are initially provided to pupils entitled to free transport and pupils “zoned for that particular school”. If spaces are leftover, they can then be allocated to pupil’s like Charlie.
Mr Wallace had added that the allocation process may stretch into the middle of September.
It is understood the delay in allocating seats for the 2015/16 academic year follows a review of transportation tender contracts across the region. Some routes and capacities changed as a result.