A Fife mum claims she is being forced to leave one of her children with additional needs on their own each school morning – because taxi drivers refuse to use her farm track.
Anntoinette Green’s two children – Leo, 10, and Tylar, 15 – go to different schools.
Leo has autism and ADHD while Tylar is non-verbal and also has autism.
The youngest brother used to get collected by taxi from his front door to go to Craigrothie Primary School, south of Cupar.
But the firm contracted to run the school transport will now only collect Leo at the end of the half-mile drive, due to concerns about the condition of the private road Anntoinette lives down.
Fife taxi firm ‘claims track road will damage vehicles’
Anntoinette claims she is now forced to either leave Tylar on his own to walk Leo to the end of the road – as she does not want to take her eldest son out of his routine – or let Leo make the trip alone.
The single mum, who lives near Leven, said: “This issue has been ongoing for ages.
“I stay up a farm track and have two children with special needs.
“Because of this I can’t leave either of them alone so I spoke to Kings Taxis Kennoway.
“However, they basically told me it’s my problem and that I just have to deal with it.
“They claim the track road will trash their vehicles – but my car has always been fine.
“I complained to the school who passed the buck to the council.
“They are saying they can’t do anything and it’s up to the taxi firm.”
The full-time mum and carer claims she has never had any issues with other taxi firms.
She added: “It’s about a half-mile walk to the end of the road and we have to wait for up to 25 minutes sometimes.
“If I left Tylar and something happened to him while I was out, it would be all on me.”
Fife Council: ‘Up to parents to get children to collection points’
Fife Council says it is down to parents to get their kids to collection points.
Service manager Kevin Funnell said: “If a child lives on a farm or in a very remote or isolated property, it is the parent’s responsibility to get their child to and from the point where the unmaintained access or exit road meets the main road.
“This is the same for all mainstream school transport we provide.
“If a child needs additional support, we make different arrangements, and parents can also choose to make their own arrangements to get their children to and from school.”
It is understood Kings Taxis Kennoway claims one of its vehicles was previously damaged on the road.
However, the firm declined to comment when contacted by The Courier.
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