PARENTS are on the verge of winning a campaign to ensure their children travel to school on a vehicle fitted with seatbelts.

Education officials in North Yorkshire are in talks with coach operators to ensure safety belts are available on vehicles taking children to and from school from the start of next term.

Parents at Great Smeaton School, near Northallerton, took up the issue after The Northern Echo launched its School Seatbelt Scandal campaign in October.

An Echo survey revealed that thousands of North-East schoolchildren were put at risk every day by travelling on buses not fitted with belts.

More than 100 parents at Great Smeaton signed coupons printed in The Northern Echo and some wrote to the education authority raising their concerns.

The issue was taken up by Low Worsall Parish Council, with about 30 children travelling from the village and surrounding settlements to Great Smeaton School.

North Yorkshire County Council's passenger transport officer, Richard Owens, said the authority had taken the parents' views into account and was now talking with the operator over providing a vehicle with belts.

He said the existing contract still had two years to run, but the council was optimistic a new vehicle would be available for next term.

Mr Owens said: "The aim is to get a vehicle with seatbelts on the route within the budget we have got, and it is looking promising.

"If there are other routes where parents have got genuine concerns we will look at those, and if we can find a solution we will do that."

He said the authority aimed to be able to guarantee that all primary schoolchildren travelled in vehicles with seatbelts within two years, when existing contracts had been renegotiated.

Cheryl Whitehead, parent teacher association chairperson at Great Smeaton, said: "Although the council doesn't have a legal obligation, it certainly has a moral one.

"We got lots of signatures and the extra impetus of having a newspaper drawing attention to it has helped."

Owen Evans, who raised the issue at the parish council, said: "We felt strongly about this, and all members of the council supported this - it is fundamental safety."

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