ANGRY parents have condemned Durham County Council for withdrawing reduced bus fares for children travelling to school.

Parents of the 43 youngsters in Trimdon Station who are affected by the move said there was plenty of room on buses for their children.

The pupils attend Sedgefield Community College, but do not live far enough away to qualify for a free bus pass.

Last year, they were offered concessionary passes, but this has been removed in the re-tendering process.

Some parents have been putting their children on the bus anyway.

They plan to gather their own evidence on how many children are using the service and intend to present it to officials at County Hall, Durham.

Parent David Greer said: "This is appalling. A lot of parents can't afford to send their children on public transport or have the facility to drive them."

Elaine Graham followed the bus to school on two separate days and said it was less than half-full both times.

She said: "We're banging our heads against a wall because the council are saying their figures don't tally with ours, but we think they've made a cock-up.

"We wouldn't mind them not getting a pass if the bus was full, but it isn't.

"This is something we definitely are not going to let drop because we're fighting for our children's rights."

A council spokesman said its hands were tied by Government rules, but parents had been kept informed of developments throughout the retendering process.

He said: " The council has a statutory obligation to retender its transport contracts from September.

"We must only tender for the number of seats required for those pupils who are entitled to free travel.

"The results of this retendering exercise have meant the number of seats on school buses have been greatly reduced and, in some cases, no seats at all can be offered on a concessionary basis.

"The council spends £10m a year on home-to-school transport and we have a duty to tax-payers to keep costs down as much a possible."