PARENTS walked their children along the A40 to highlight the dangers if their free school transport is cut.

About 30 people took part in the walk from Bartholomew School to Cassington from 3pm yesterday.

Just an hour later a collision between a lorry and a car blocked part of the same route – Lower Road in Eynsham.

It comes after Oxfordshire County Council reviewed the route and said it was safe for children to walk along.

The council wrote to parents stating that free transport will be cut from September and about the option of paying for the school bus at £1.53 a day which would be subject to a review.

Lorna Mills, whose son Aaron is at the school, said: “We will have to pay for the bus because the road is not just safe.”

Lionel Barton, 42, from Cassington, whose 10-year-old son is starting at the school in September, said: “We just don’t understand how this road, which used to be classed as unsafe, how now been reclassified as safe.”

The group, made up of parents and called Cassington Appeal, has submitted a petition calling for a reversal of the decision with 1,000 signatures.

County council Director for Children, Education and Families Jim Leivers said: “The county council is keen to work with Bartholomew School to support them in finding other options.”

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