CHILDREN with learning difficulties are having their lives disrupted by staffing issues affecting Southampton City Council and other local authorities.

A minibus service that takes pupils to and from schools across the city has been hit by a shortage of escorts who normally accompany the pupils.

Parents without cars say they have had to keep their children at home or ask relatives to help out.

A 70-year-old woman whose ten-year-old grand-daughter is autistic has spent four hours a day collecting her grand-daughter, taking her to school and then driving her home at the end of the day.

She said: "Children with learning difficulties find it difficult to cope with any change in their routine.

"If it's is changed for any reason it can cause the child to become anxious, upset and frustrated, leading to 'meltdowns'.

"Over the past few weeks school transport has become more and more unreliable.

"One week there wasn't any available on my grand-daughter's route because there was no escort - and each bus has to have one due to the nature of the children.

"My daughter-in-law doesn't drive and has another child whom she has to get to a school, so I took my grand-daughter and picked her up to ensure she attended.

"There are four other children on her bus and as far as I'm aware they have missed school.

"The escorts are supposed to be provided by the council and it's the escorts that are the problem. Without them the buses can't run.

"These children have enough problems without having to cope with not knowing if they can go to school every day.

"This problem is city-wide and there will be other people who are as fed up with the situation as we are."

Cllr James Baillie, the council's cabinet member for education, added: "We are sorry that national factors have caused interruptions to school transport and we recognise that this causes significant inconvenience for parents, carers and pupils.

"The national shortage of drivers has reduced the availability of taxis and other private hire vehicles that can transport children with special educational needs, and in common with other local authorities we are also experiencing a shortage of passenger escorts.

"We are working hard to recruit more escorts and secure more private hire vehicles in Southampton and across the region to help minimise interruptions.”