FURIOUS parents have slammed the cancellation of a “vital” bus service leaving children unable to access a plush Bearsden school.

Pupils travelling from Colquhoun and Westerton will no longer be able to rely on the school bus to Boclair Academy after the summer holidays as the service will cease operation on June 28.

Parents say the children from the “poorer areas” are suffering as Allander Travel, who operate the school bus contract, will continue to provide its service from the leafy village of Torrance.

Currently, youngsters from Torrance receive free transport to the school, while those located elsewhere pay £1.70 per journey due to East Dunbartonshire Council’s policy which provides free transport to those travelling more than three miles to school.

Glasgow Times:

Chad Davidson, whose daughter attends the school, told the Glasgow Times: “We got an email from the school to say that Allander Travel is pulling the service from Colquhoun and Westerton from June 28, which means that the kids starting in S1 in August from the poorer areas have no way of getting directly to the school - either they walk the two or three miles route or they get a train to Hillfoot and walk another mile to the school.

“The school say they are working on a resolution, but I don’t hold out much hope.

“My daughter is old enough now to walk or get the train herself, but I feel for all the other kids starting S1 in August as not everyone has a car and some of them won’t know how to get to the school by walking as it’s in an awkward area of Bearsden.”

Glasgow Times:

Allander Travel told the Glasgow Times the bus service has become “no longer viable” due to the sheer level of vandalism of the bus.

Despite charging a fare of £1.70, many families opt for group or season ticket passes which see the individual journey cost lowered to £1.20.

However, the cost of maintenance required to resolve the vandalism issues means it's no longer cost-effective to operate the service without hiking fares up.

The firm says it warned both Boclair Academy and East Dunbartonshire Council of its predicament before the decision to pull the plug was made.

Youngsters will now be faced with awkward public transport routes followed by a fairly lengthy walk to make it to school and, parents have warned, due to the current infrastructure timings it could make attending classes on time difficult.

They’ve called on the council to act.

Gerry Cornes, chief executive of East Dunbartonshire Council, said: "As Boclair Academy is within three miles of these locations, the council does not provide free school transport.

"Torrance is further away and meets the criteria so that is why a school bus is available to young people from there.

"The bus service in question is a privately run contract arranged by parents and Allander Travel and SPT. We are aware that it will finish at the end of June and will continue to monitor the situation."