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| Bury free Press, 7 May 2004 |
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| CHILDREN'S lives will be put at risk by a decision to withdraw a bus service from Onehouse to Stowmarket, it has been claimed. |
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| Parents and parish councillors have blasted the decision by Suffolk County Council and First Eastern Counties. |
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| Suffolk County Council has cancelled its contract with First Eastern and the bus company has said that, without the council subsidy, the service was losing money and it was due to be withdrawn at the end of the month. |
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| Now, parents who paid for their children to be taken to school will either have to drive them to Stowmarket or their children will have to walk. |
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| Mother-of-three Carolyn Schleich, of Northfield Road, Onehouse, is appealing against the council decision on the grounds that the route to Stowmarket is unsafe for her 12-year-old daughter to walk. |
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| "Half a mile of the road is unpaved – there is a dangerous bend and a whole mile that is unlit. We don't have a safe footpath from here to Stowmarket. |
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| "It is an unsafe route and eventually a child is going to be injured – it might not be my child but somebody's child will be hurt on that road," she said. |
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| In November, her 17-year-old daughter narrowly avoided a serious accident by jumping out of the way of a car into a verge – and she was still clipped by its wing mirror. |
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| Mrs Schleich said there were other parts of the road where there was no verge or anywhere for pedestrians to move out of the way of traffic. |
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| "It is an accident waiting to happen and I'm just surprised nobody has been badly injured there before," she said. |
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| Arlene Cruickshank, chairman of Onehouse Parish Council, said: "We are very disappointed at being treated like this. The children's safety is being compromised. |
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| "It is a very dangerous road. When the village primary school was shut 30 to 40 years ago, there was a promise made that the children would all be able to get a bus to school." |
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| She said two children had been in collision with vehicles but thankfully neither was seriously injured. |
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| MP David Ruffley, who is campaigning to keep the service, said: "Children should be encouraged to walk where it is safe to do so but this road is simply not suitable. I urge the county council to look at this again." |
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| Roger Collins, deputy head at Stowmarket Middle School, said: "The children have used the service for many years and it has been a reliable service. It is a rural area and the children rely on the buses for their transport." |
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| No-one from Suffolk County Council was available to comment. |
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