A MOLESEY dad whose 11-year-old daughter is starting at Salesian School in Chertsey in September has criticised Surrey County Council for failing to run a school bus to the area, after discovering the existing bus service will not run next term.

Carlo Dore, 54, who lives in Nightingale Road in West Molesey, applied for a place for his daughter at the school at the beginning of the year when he believed a bus service was still running from Molesey to Chertsey.

His daughter attends St Alban’s Catholic Primary School in East Molesey, which is a feeder school for Salesian.

But Abellio, which runs the current service to the school, said it has had to cut the route because it was not commercially viable.

Mr Dore said driving to and from the school in the morning would take about an hour each way in rush hour traffic, and a journey via bus and train for his daughter would take possibly longer.

He said: “My understanding from contacting the school was that Surrey County Council stopped supporting the bus in 2011.

“There was contact between the parents and the bus company and that continued over the past four years.

“But demand has dropped because it’s become expensive because of funding.

“It’s the closest Catholic school to us. I feel there should be some support. I’m not asking for a free service but parents need some support.

“I’m talking about an 11-year-old child having to take a bus from Molesey to Hersham, then a train and change at Weybridge then a train to Chertsey. It might be OK on a nice summer evening in July but not in December.”

He said the journey would put his young daughter at risk, adding that “there are people who prey on young children and young girls.”

Surrey County Council said it provides a bus service for schoolchildren to their nearest school.

A spokesman added: “We are currently looking at options to see if there is anything we can do to help those affected get to and from the school in the easiest and most efficient way.”

Mr Dore said he and his wife are now having to face doing practice runs on the train with their daughter to boost her confidence if she has to undertake the journey herself in September.

He said: “They should be responsible to help the children of this area to get to school. In this day and age, both parents work.

“I know it’s not the school’s problem, they’re responsible for education.This is what I pay my taxes for.”

Mr Dore has the backing of several parents whose children also attend the same primary school in Molesey and will also go to Salesian School in September.

Ettore Mausolle, 53, who lives in Braycourt Avenue in Walton and whose daughter also attends St Alban’s School, said: “I understand about the money side of it because it’s not at full capacity but they’re only little kids. It’s the dread you have having a young daughter but there’s no other option.”

The school declined to comment.