Pupils from Sparsholt, Winchester, are to qualify for bus passes after councillors decided a corner on their school route was unsafe.

Parents of Westgate School pupils had been told passes were being stopped because they had been issued in error. They appealed against the decision and councillors agreed that there was no other safe way for them to get to school.

Sparsholt pupils at Henry Beaufort School will also now qualify for bus passes, because they share a similar route with Westgate students.

The passes will save a Westgate pupil £2 a day and a Henry Beaufort pupil £1.20 a day.

Councillors walked the route, which is just under three miles, and decided the corner outside the Plough Inn was unsafe, as were areas on Dean Lane.

Campaigning parents, Angela Weatherall and Cath Foxwell, said they were concerned about the dangers posed by perverts and speeding traffic.

They told the meeting of the school transport appeals panel on Tuesday: "I don't think any of us would want to put our children at risk by making them walk down that route. No unaccompanied child is safe on unlit roads given society today, let alone the traffic."