100 signatures reached
To: Nicholas Breakspear School, Sullivans Buses, Hertfordshire County Council
NBS Potters Bar School Bus
Nicholas Breakspear School families in Potters Bar and South Mimms have been told, without consultation, that the 355 and 356 school bus services will no longer pick up locally from September.
This change raises serious safeguarding, wellbeing, educational and financial concerns. Daily and weekly tickets have been removed, leaving only £1,000 annual passes, and affected families were not included in any consultation.
We call on Sullivan Bus Services, Hertfordshire County Council and Nicholas Breakspear School to urgently reinstate a safe, direct and appropriately timed Potters Bar/South Mimms school bus service before September, and to ensure that affected families are properly consulted.
Why is this important?
For many families in Potters Bar and South Mimms, choosing Nicholas Breakspear School was based on the promise of a safe, direct and reasonable school bus route. The 355 and 356 services have been reliable for years, giving children a manageable 15–20 minute journey and giving parents confidence that their children could travel safely and independently.
That has now changed overnight.
Without any consultation with the families affected, these buses have been withdrawn for our area. Children have been reassigned to the 330 route, increasing their journey from around 15–20 minutes to over an hour each way, with 07:00 pick‑ups and 16:20–16:30 returns, leaving many students waiting at roadside stops in darkness throughout autumn and winter.
From September, students will be standing at roadside stops in complete darkness at 07:00, returning home as late as 16:45, exhausted before they even begin their homework. The new journey adds 1 hour 40 minutes of travel every single day - the equivalent of an extra transatlantic flight every week.
From September, students will be standing at roadside stops in complete darkness at 07:00, returning home as late as 16:45, exhausted before they even begin their homework. The new journey adds 1 hour 40 minutes of travel every single day - the equivalent of an extra transatlantic flight every week.
This is not a small inconvenience. It affects children’s sleep, safety, wellbeing, learning, routines, and family life. It affects parents’ ability to work. It affects the whole community.
Families were not asked. We were not informed until the last day of term. Many had already paid nearly £1,000 for annual bus passes that no longer serve our area.
We are asking for a safe, direct and reasonable school transport option to be reinstated for Potters Bar and South Mimms - something comparable to what children had before, and something that protects their wellbeing and educational prospects.
This matters because no child should have their school day extended by nearly two hours of unnecessary travel, and no family should be left without a voice in decisions that affect their children’s safety.
If we stand together, we can push for a fair and workable solution.
