Unlike some other children his age, Charlie Andrews loves nothing more than going to school.
The eight-year-old, from Bury, thrives in his education and looks forward to seeing his friends every day.
Born with spina bifida, the youngster is paralysed from the waist down and needs an accessible bus to take him to and from his primary school in Tottington.
But due to a national driver shortage, his special transport service has now been terminated – meaning he hasn’t been to school properly for weeks.
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Charlie’s mum, Stacey Andrews, says problems with his transport started at the beginning of the school year in September 2022.
Driver sickness meant Charlie’s special vehicle frequently failed to show up, often seeing him attend lessons just two times a week.
When the service was cancelled completely on March 2, Charlie’s school stepped in and paid for an accessible taxi to pick him up every day. Sadly, the funding quickly ran out, meaning Charlie now has no way of getting to school and has not attended since the Easter holidays ended.
Unable to drive, full-time carer Stacey has no way of taking Charlie to school herself, which is four miles away from their home just outside Bury town centre.
Stacey now fears for Charlie’s development as he continues to miss out on his vital education and social time with his peers.
“He turned around to me on Sunday and asked if it was his fault,” the 38-year-old told the Manchester Evening News.
“He thinks that’s why they’re not picking him up. It’s heartbreaking to think what’s going through his head.”
Mum Stacey says there have been no previous issues with Charlie’s transportation to Tottington Primary School, with the problems starting at the start of the school year last autumn.
The transport is funded through his education, health and care (EHC) plan, a scheme for children and young people who need special educational, health and social care needs.
A spokesman for Bury Council, which runs the transport service, says the problem comes down to factors “outside of the council’s control” such as staff sickness and a nationwide shortage of drivers.
On March 2, the authority revealed its contractor had terminated the service with immediate effect due to reduced driver availability.
Stacey says the council has offered the family a ‘personal budget’ to help pay for an accessible taxi, but the £439, which is for 79 days, is nowhere near enough needed to pay for the service.
Meanwhile, Charlie has been without a bedroom for a year due to renovation works taking place in his council-owned home.
Due to his disability needs, his room needs an extension to make it bigger. Charlie’s family were told this would take a maximum of ten weeks to complete.
However, the works are still ongoing, meaning Charlie has to sleep in Stacey’s bed with her and has no use of his own bedroom.
“It’s been on and off for a few months,” Stacey added. “Where is the money for his funding going? We’ve never had this issue before.
“I’m absolutely disgusted that they can leave my child without an education and not sort anything out.
“A child with anxiety, they jump leaps and bounds to get that child into school, so why is my son any different?
“He thrives at school, he loves it. He says, ‘Mum, when am I going back to school?’
“He’s missing out on education and mixing with his peers. It’s disgusting. I just don’t know how they can think of doing anything like this.
“They’ve got a child who really wants to go to school and kids who don’t want to go and they jump through loops to get them in.
“It’s very frustrating, more for Charlie. It’s wrong.”
Stacey says as problems with the transport service continued, Tottington Primary School, who she says have been 'brilliant' - stepped in and paid for an accessible taxi to take Charlie to school every day. But sadly, the taxi service did not last long due to a lack of school funding.
A spokesman for Bury Council said: “In order to run the transport service, the Council commissions several contractors to provide qualified drivers and suitable vehicles to transport children and young adults with special educational needs from home to school.
“It is highly regrettable that the transport was cancelled on several occasions since the start of the Autumn Term however, this was largely due to driver sickness which is unfortunately outside of the Council’s control.
“Unfortunately, on 2 March 2023 the contractor advised they would be terminating their service with immediate effect due to reduced driver availability.
“The transport team have explored the provision of a vehicle to provide transport to Tottington Primary School and unfortunately at this stage are unable to procure a suitable wheelchair accessible vehicle with driver to enable us to operate transport.
“An alternative form of travel assistance has been offered to the family to support travel to and from school.
“As a result of the recent coronavirus pandemic there is a nationwide shortage of drivers and vehicles to undertake home to school transport.
“Several drivers have left employment in the taxi trade to pursue a career in the HGV (heavy goods vehicle) industry and unfortunately have not returned to private hire work.”
Deborah Taylor, head of Tottington Primary School, added: “We are keen to get Charlie back into school as soon as possible. Our school is working closely with Bury LA to resolve this situation.”
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