A mum has hit out at the “appalling” bus service between Letchworth GC and Baldock.

Letchworth GC resident Anne-Marie Lose, whose daughter attends Knights Templar School in Baldock, says she is forced to drive her daughter to school because there is no suitable bus service.

She said: “I am appalled about the incredibly bad bus service between Letchworth and Baldock, inparticular.

“My daughter started at the Knights Templar School back in 2011, where a school bus was still operating. After a year this ceased.

“The children from Letchworth then relied on the public bus service. Numbers 54 and 55 get to Knights Templar after school starts, leaving them with bus 635. Now bus 635 has changed its timetable, leaving the poor children to either catch it so they get to school 35 minutes before everyone else, walk to school, or rely on the parents to take them.”

The school has set up a small drop-off facility to try to alleviate the problem of parents dropping their children off in residential streets in the neighbourhood, which Ms Lose said were getting increasingly jammed with cars.

She added: “It doesn’t have to be the biggest bus in the world, just a normal bus service to fit in with the school times.

“I thought society was aiming to cut down on cars and get people to walk, cycle and take public transport. However, with no secure routes for the children to walk or cycle, and now no buses either, I don’t know how that’s going to work.

“I truly hope a solution will be found to support the children in the area.”

A spokesman for Arriva, which operates the 55 and a new 98 service in the area, said: “If the school, and or parents, want to advise their preferred latest arrival time then we are certainly prepared to investigate the feasibility of running the 98 service earlier to assist getting the children to school.”

The number 54 Service has been withdrawn and replaced, in part, by service 55.

Uno, the company which runs the 635, was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.