Parents have revealed how their 14-year-old son had to move schools after his Carmarthenshire school bus was scrapped at the beginning of the year.
On the first day back after the Christmas holidays, Ethan Davies, walked to the his usual bus stop in Llwynhendy to board the bus going to Ysgol y Strade in Llanelli - something he had been doing for the past four years.
An hour later, the teenager returned home to his parents to tell them that the service hadn't turned up.
Ethan's parents, Lisa and Hayden, were then informed that the service, along with a number of others, had been axed at the start of the year after legislation brought in by the Department for Transport came into affect that all vehicles needed to have full disability access by January 1, 2020.
Hundreds of parents who live within the three-mile catchment area of their schools and are therefore not entitled to free bus passes had been relying on a number of the paid service buses that bus companies decided to scrap instead of updating their vehicles. Schoolchildren then had to organise last-minute, alternatives so they wouldn't have to walk .
But Lisa said that after a week of trying to organise other transport, they had to make the difficult decision to move their son to a different school.
"We tried it for a week. Friends were taking him and my husband, who works in Neath, had to drop him off early at around 7.30am when no-one else was there except the caretaker and pick him up late at 4.30pm when he was standing out in the rain and soaking wet. But after a week we could just see that it wasn't doable," said the mum who lives in Llwynhendy.
Lisa's son moved schools from Welsh medium school Ysgol y Strade in Sandy Road to English school St John Lloyd's, which is only a 0.6 mile walk away from their home.
"He was upset when we told him and didn't want to move because he has friends there that he's known for years. He's in the middle of his GCSE exams as well and is a fluent Welsh speaker in an English school - I really hope he doesn't lose his Welsh," adds the mum of five.
"What's more his biggest passion is drama and he's started his drama GCSE in Strade, but they don't study it in his new school, so all that coursework has gone to waste now and we have to pay so he can do it externally because it's his passion," said the 35-year-old.
The family, who share one car, have four more children and say that they are hoping to get the bus issues resolved so their other children, who are in primary school, can attend Ysgol y Strade, which is just 2.9 miles from their home - just inside of the three-mile catchment area.
Lisa said: "One of my sons has walking difficulties so he has a free bus pass to get to Strade, the other three are in primary school but it's always been important for us that they speak Welsh. But if the buses carry on like this we'll have no choice and they won't be able to. Most of our neighbours are all eligible for free bus passes to the school - it just all seems ridiculous."
"I'm just hoping that they can sort it out because we don't want it to have an impact on their future. I'm sure that Ethan's grades will take some sort of knock because of it," adds the mum.
Carmarthenshire Council , has maintained that the cancellation of the services was not a decision made by the local authority.
Cllr Hazel Evans, executive board member for environment, said: “We understand there are some families affected by this new legislation. We empathise completely but this is a national issue, and not a council decision. However, we will carry out a general review of school transport policy.”
She added: “We have worked closely with schools to provide information about public transport and will continue to lobby the Welsh and UK governments to re-think the application of national UK legislation.”
