I’m having to change my son’s SEND nursery due to Stagecoach bus changes
A Whiteleas mam has spoken of her despair following Stagecoach bus changes in South Tyneside.
Beth Coombe, from Whiteleas, has revealed to the Shields Gazette that changes to Stagecoach bus services in her local area are having an impact on her son, Thomas’, education.
The 32-year-old used to take her son to nursery four days a week, via the number 17; however, it was withdrawn from service on Sunday, May 11, and merged with the number 3.
As a result, Beth is struggling to get two-year-old Thomas to his nursery, which has the necessary SEND provisions for him, for 9am each morning due to how crowded the number 3 is.
Beth has explained to the Gazette that this is having an impact on Thomas’ early-years education, her own mental health, and is now considering moving him to a new nursery closer to home.
She said: “I’m at the bus stop for 8.30am each morning, which is earlier than I used to be there, but the bus is always full to capacity.
“There are no scholar buses on for Biddick and Whiteleas so it is always full of school children of all ages.
“As Thomas has additional needs and is registered as disabled, I can’t just fold down his pushchair and get him on the bus.
“I wake up in the morning and I feel stressed as I’m constantly dreading the nursery run.
“His nursery has the sensory room that Thomas needs so it is difficult for me to go to a local nursery nearer to me but it is looking like I’m going to have to as it is so difficult to get there on a morning.
“By making these changes, Stagecoach are robbing my son of half-an-hour of his education each morning - they are making things so difficult.
“The bus is constantly at capacity, all because the number 17 was taken out of service.”
Stagecoach has explained that due to falling bus passenger numbers in the borough, the company has had to made changes to the services that it operates to make them sustainable.
A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “Regrettably, passenger numbers on the South Tyneside bus network continue to fall some way short compared to other areas, and this has impacted the financial performance of the wider business, making it necessary to make adjustments in order to ensure services within the borough remain sustainable for the long-term future.
“Since the changes, we have been made aware of some busier trips at peak times and have now been able to deploy larger capacity vehicles at these times to resolve this.
“Whiteleas and Biddick Hall areas continue to be well served by public transport, with up to 12 buses per hour continuing to provide links from these areas.”
At the time of writing, almost 750 people have supported the call - you can view it here: https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/stagecoach_stop_stagecoach_withdrawing_service_17/.
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