Taxi Driver Online

UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Essex

September 20, 2006 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Primary schools £180k taxi bill

BYLINE: Jon Austin

Primary schools in Basildon have spent more than £181,900 on cab fares for pupils in the past year.

Figures released by Essex County Council show that between April 2005 and 2006 the authority spent the cash on trips to and from school, with more going on minibuses and coach travel.

The council has contracts with several firms including A&B Taxis, Value Cars, Mayflower Car Services and Intacab.

South Green Infants and Junior school in Billericay used a whopping £29,106 worth of taxis over the period, with Oakfield County Primary, in Wickford, racking up £21,230.

An Essex County Council spokesman justified the costs and said it needed to meet the transport needs of 20,000 students a day.

He said: "These students go to a wide range of establishments from both inside and out of Essex.

"These include special educational needs schools, primary and secondary schools and post-16 establishments, using a mixture of double decker and single decker buses, minibuses and taxis.

"In addition to this we also provide local bus and train tickets, where appropriate." The council said it makes decisions on which transport to use based on a range of factors.

The spokesman added: "If the student lives in the vicinity of other students, then we would normally place them on existing transport in the area and get as many students as possible travelling in the same vehicle.

"However, this is not always possible. Some areas of Essex are not accessible by large vehicles, therefore smaller vehicles may need to be set up to accommodate the numerous students who live in these locations.

"Therefore connecting taxis may be set up to get the student to the nearest pick-up point on the bus route." "The county council continually reviews all of its contracts with transport providers.

"The aims of these reviews are to ensure funding is properly allocated, to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and to ensure all pupils have the best and most efficient access to their schools."
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Obviously trade is good down in wayne and shazza land

When JD went to school he'd already done nightshift down the pit, ran the 20 miles home for breakfast and then ran the 30 miles to school.

Its no surprise that he would expect todays children to do the same.

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

I can't recall anyone expressing a view on the article - are you just making this up?

I think GA should be held responsible for the collapse of the Child Support Agency, the Boxing Day Tsunami and Richard Hammond's accident.

Why? Because I say so

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Taxi Driver Online
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I think he was too.

GA, theres been a woman asking about you over here, dont do belly flops on Boxing day again, and Jeremy Clarkson wants to ask you about that tyre you fitted.



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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
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