A MUM has been left frustrated after a bus pass issued for her four-year-old daughter was revoked by the council because of a mistake.

Lyndsey Webb is now facing having to pay £600 for her daughter, Callie, to travel by bus to school with her sister or drive them both to school herself.

The 35-year-old mum of two from South Warnborough, near Odiham, already has a seven-year-old daughter, Lily, who attends Long Sutton CofE Primary School and who is eligible for free bus travel to school.

The family live more than two miles from their catchment school, and there is no safe walking route, meaning they are eligible to use the school bus supplied by Hampshire County Council.

Lyndsey, who works at The Hatch pub, applied for her four-year-old daughter to use the bus when she started in Year R in September, believing she would meet the same criteria as her elder sister.

A bus pass was issued by the county council.

However, when her youngest daughter came to use the bus pass, she was told it had been given in error and she wasn’t in fact eligible for free bus travel.

Instead, Lyndsey has been told she needs to pay £600 for a bus pass for the year, until her daughter becomes eligible in the term after her fifth birthday, which is not until September 2023.

Lyndsey said parents were “up in arms about the situation” with others at the school also affected.

“What’s the difference between a four-year-old and seven-year-old?” she questioned, adding: “Hampshire County Council has issued these bus passes for a reason and now they have been revoked.”

The mum is now having to drive both children to school, driving past the bus stop on the way and following the bus to school.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Lyndsey, adding: “Now my eldest will have to be driven to school alongside her sister, so her independence has been taken away.

“You would think that with the way things are in the world at the moment with living costs I’m now driving two children to school and there is no parking.”

Lyndsey said it would be more environmentally friendly for her daughters to use the bus, and safer, because it parks right outside the main entrance.

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said home to school transport is only available for eligible children from the school term after they turn five-years-old.

However, Lyndsey believes this policy should be changed and said: “My daughter is old enough to go into full-time education so why can’t she travel on the school bus?”

If her daughter were to travel on a public bus in Hampshire it would be free up until the age of five.

The county council apologised for issuing the bus passes in error to a “small number of families” which it blamed on an administrative error.

The spokesperson said: “We apologise for any confusion, inconvenience, and upset this has caused.

“Families can choose to pay for seats, if they are available, on our contracted home to school transport vehicles until their free transport assistance comes into effect. However, those already eligible take priority.

“This option is charged for by the term and the cost is based on the distance being travelled.”

Asked why transport is not free for school age children in Year R, who would otherwise meet the eligibility criteria, HCC said: “The county council’s school transport policy reflects the requirements of the Education Act 1996, the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and complies with the Department for Education’s statutory guidance issued in July 2014.”