School buses for students with special needs have been suspended as operators cancel their Manchester council contracts due to rising costs. Seven routes which serve schools in the city have been not been running since the Easter holidays – and they will not resume before the summer term ends.
However, parents have been told the issue may not be resolved by September. It comes as contracts for the council's home-school transport service were cancelled due to increased fuel costs and a national shortage of drivers.
But Zoe Saxon, whose disabled daughter's school bus route has been affected, believes there has been some 'mismanagement' by the local authority as well. Lillie, who is non-verbal, tube-fed and a wheelchair-user, is missing 50 minutes of lessons every day so that her mum can pick her up from school in Higher Blackley before picking up her siblings from their school in New Moston.
