AN MP and county council representatives face a grilling at a public meeting next Friday when parents confront them about school transport.

At Danby Group Parish Council on Wednesday, it was claimed that although Lawrie Quinn MP was supportive of Castleton parents' fight for their children to continue to travel to school by rail, he had known about Arriva's plans to refurbish the trains, and reduce the number of seats, since March.

Some members of the council questioned why he had not informed any parents, parish councillors or county councillor Herbert Tindall about the plans. They only found out about it a few weeks ago.

Coun Rita Rudsdale understood he had expected to be able to do something about it.

But Coun Ian Dodsworth said the MP, who could not be contacted yesterday, should be answerable.

"He should have been campaigning in March; it's a bit late in the day now," he said.

Mr Quinn, national park representatives, the Esk Valley Railway Development Partnership and Endeavour Rail will attend next Friday's public meeting at 6pm in the parish room at Castleton. Coun Rudsdale urged people to attend.

A series of points were made at the parish council meeting:

* Coun Tindall estimated Arriva would lose £25,000 a year from the 50 Castleton schoolchildren forced to go to school by bus instead of by train;

* Coun Rudsdale said the North Yorkshire County Council policy stating children must have a seat on school transport related to bus travel, not trains;

* With 57 children from Castleton and Westerdale, there were too many to fit on a 53-seater coach, so the county was providing a minibus from Westerdale to Whitby;

* Older pupils who travelled on the train from Castleton, acting as monitors of younger children, were still travelling by rail, leaving the others unsupervised on the bus;

* A special train being used for a group of delegates to travel on the Esk Valley line from Whitby to Darlington raised questions about Arriva's claims that were no extra carriages were available to accommodate all schoolchildren after the refurbishment;

* Parents fear youngsters will miss out on their social life - if they go on the bus they can no longer get a later train home if they take part in after-school activities;

* Parents claimed the county's transport questionnaire, sent to families along the Esk Valley, was loaded in favour of bus travel.

Pupils from Castleton yesterday boycotted the bus laid on by the county and went to schools in Whitby as paying passengers on the train.

It was a one-day protest against the bus, which parents claim is less safe than rail travel. Parents want rail passes even if it means their children have to stand on the train