A national shortage of bus drivers has left Congleton parents “worrying” about how they will get their children to school, after a service is axed in January.
In a letter sent out to parents last Monday, Congleton High School headteacher Heidi Thurland said the school was “working hard” to find alternative transport after coach company Ladyline announced one of its services would be cut in the new year.
The K85 bus currently collects pupils from Sainsbury’s in Biddulph at 7.45am on weekdays and travels through Mossley and Bromley Road in Congleton, reaching the school at 8.40am. A return service takes students back to Biddulph at 3.47pm.
Lee Kellenberger said his children regularly caught the bus from Bromley Road. “It’s not an ideal situation, especially with the stresses of Christmas looming,” he said.
“Now, on top of that, parents have got to worry about how they will get their kids to and from school, with only seven weeks to find an alternative arrangement.
“Hopefully the school will be able to sort out another company to take the route on, as having kids biking to and from school in the winter months is not ideal, and can hopefully be avoided.”
The letter to parents, which has been seen by the “Chronicle”, said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the K85 Ladyline bus (Biddulph, Mossley and Bromley estate) transport is being terminated from January 2025 due to a national shortage of qualified drivers.
“As a school we are looking into options to accommodate our students getting to and from school. This is our utmost priority.
“We are working hard to ensure we have transport for our students; we will update you in due course.”
A driver shortage report, published by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) last year, said: “The shortage of professional bus and coach drivers is significant – and getting worse.
“Shortages are affecting passenger transport operations worldwide, harming mobility networks and the people, communities and economies that depend on them.”
It said that across Europe, 105,000 bus and coach driver roles were unfilled at the time of publication in October 2023, which represented 10% of total positions.
The report said: “The shortage of bus and coach drivers increased by 54% over the past year. Over 82% of road passenger companies in Europe suffer severe, or very severe, difficulties to fill driver positions.
“The profession also has an ageing population. Less than 3% of bus and coach drivers are below 25 years old.”
The report warned that without action to attract and retain drivers, Europe could have more than 275,000 unfilled bus and coach driver positions by 2028 and that the consequences of such a shortage would be “very serious”.
In response, the UK Government launched a public consultation in April with a view to remove a restriction on young people between the ages of 18 and 20, which currently prevents them from driving a bus or coach over a distance of 50km.
The consultation ended on 5th June, but no update has since been provided.
The “Chronicle” asked Ladyline and Congleton MP Sarah Russell to comment.
(Photo: Ladyline Facebook).
