CHILDREN with special educational needs (SEN) are missing school because of controversial changes to transport arrangements, a charity has warned.

Several pupils have yet to attend school this term due to disputes between their parents and Hounslow Council, the Chronicle understands.

Chiswick-based charity Parents in Touch says it has dealt with up to 30 complaints from parents over changes to travel arrangements.

The council has a statutory duty to provide assistance for the 600-odd SEN children in the borough to attend school.

However, under new arrangements, agreed back in 2007 but only implemented this year, many children are being asked to take public transport or wait at a pick-up point to be collected.

Civic Centre chiefs claim the move will save up to £100,000 a year, but Parents in Touch has criticised the way the new policy has been introduced and some of the 'bizarre' decisions made in individual cases.

"We've been inundated with calls from parents worried about the new transport arrangements and we're seriously concerned about how the policy has been implemented," said the charity's secretary Karen Adams.

"There have been some quite bizarre suggestions. One young man in a wheelchair was asked to catch two buses and then get his parents, who both have back problems, to push him more than a kilometre up a steep hill to school. He has severe learning disabilities and it seems bizarre this was even suggested.

"That decision was overturned and we understand more than 100 other arrangements have been changed after appeals by parents but we're still dealing with a number of cases and we're worried there may be many more people affected."

Ms Adams claims the decisions were made by people with little knowledge of the individuals' circumstances and parents were given too little time to appeal the decision before summer term began.

A council spokesman was unable to say how many pupils were still off school this week, one month into the summer term, while their parents await the results of their appeals.

However, the Chronicle understands that at one of the borough's four SEN schools six pupils have yet to attend due to disputes over travel.

A council spokesman said: "While we can't comment on individual cases, Hounslow Council is still considering the review and appeals process with a small number of parents and guardians.

"We have given those who are unhappy with the decision a two-stage appeals process – a small number have been amended if additional information has been provided demonstrating the original decision was not appropriate. Hounslow Council only made these initial decisions with all the information they had been given at the time.

"There are a small number of parents and guardians awaiting the outcomes of their appeals."

The council's transport policy for SEN pupils states that 'where possible the first consideration will be towards using public transport'.

It says that where council transport is provided, the 'vast majority' of pupils will be collected from a pick-up point rather than their home, although in a 'small number of cases' home pick-ups will be necessary.

An online petition has been created, calling for the council to review its school travel policy. For more details, visit http://petitions.hounslow.gov.uk/SENTransport

A Feltham boy's story - see page 2

AHMED Malik's seven-year-old son Azhar is severely autistic.

For the last four years, he has been picked up from his home in Field Road, Feltham, and taken to Lindon Bennett School in Hanworth.

However, he has yet to attend school this year because his parents are locked in a dispute over the new arrangements, under which he is expected to wait for a council minibus in nearby Carlton Avenue.

"He's severely autistic and this isn't something that's manageable at all, but there's been no risk assessment done," said Mr Malik.

"They said he can wait in the car but if he gets in a car he expects it to go somewhere and doesn't understand if he has to wait.

"I've sent the council a letter from the doctor's surgery, a copy of his blue badge and details of his Disability Living Allowance to support my case but I haven't heard back from them since mid-September."