Guide: School transport appeals and complaints

• Introduction
• What is the process?
• What will the Appeals Committee take into account?
• What if my child lives in walking distance of school?
• What happens next?
• Can I bring someone with me to the hearing?
• Route safety appeals
• Who will be at the hearing?
• Complaints
• What happens at the appeals hearing?

Route safety appeals

If you are worried about the safety of a walking journey to school, the appeal process is slightly different. You will need to raise your concerns with a transport coordination officer (TCO) who will review your case.

This may result in a site visit by TCOs who will check if the walking journey to school is judged to be safe for a child to walk in reasonable safety, with an adult where needed.

Please note that site visits can only be carried out during school term time to match the same traffic conditions as a normal ‘school day’. So, for example, if your appeal is made during the summer school holidays a site visit can’t be carried out until the school term starts in September.

To speak to a TCO please call 0345 155 1019.

Please note that the following are not taken into account during a route safety walk:

• the parent’s individual circumstances, for instance personal availability to walk with the child or that it may be necessary to walk with younger children or pram
• parental finances
• local weather conditions
• unusual events – such as, road closures, construction work, flooding
• lack of street lighting – the majority of roads in Devon do not have streetlights and lighting is not an issue all year round
• lack of pavements – the lack of a paved footpath is not necessarily a reason to assess a route as unsuitable
• the presence of uncut hedges
• difficult terrain and arduousness of the route
• practicality or the time taken to walk the route