Schoolchildren ‘stranded’ at Northampton school after changes to bus services

Parents have accused Stagecoach of leaving children ‘stranded’ at Northampton School after changes to its services.

Sean McCormick planned for his child to catch the X10 service to get to and from school, but says changes to the timetable mean when children finish lessons at 3.35pm there is not enough time to get to the stop for the bus’s 3.39pm arrival. Previously it arrived at 3.50pm. 

The next bus arrives more than an hour later, at 4.53pm.

He said: “We have a child attending Northampton School and planned for them to use the X10 service from nearby the school to get to and from.

“It takes roughly eight minutes to get to the stop from the school. It’s impossible for children using the service to actually get the bus.

“School clubs often run until 4pm or 4:30pm, which could leave children waiting at the bus stop for more than 30 minutes if no other travel arrangements can be made. This is concerning especially heading into the winter months.”

Sean says notice of the changes – which have also affected a number of other services in the Kettering and Corby area – were given during the summer holidays, meaning many parents would not know.

He added: “It's interesting the changes were implemented very rapidly, with a 17-day public notice period, only three more than the legal 14-day notice.

“Stagecoach gave a public notice in August while no school age children were getting the bus, so it has completely slipped under the notice of student and parents, leaving people stranded on day one of term. This would have been different if it was in term time.”

Stagecoach say the updated X10 timetable offers ‘improved timing connections for those attending Moulton College’.

Sean said: “The time change was implemented to make way for a new K1 service in Kettering to help Moulton college students, but is completely tossing Northampton School students to the wayside.”

Stagecoach did not respond to our requests for comment.