It may be that future editions of dictionaries will contain extra definitions of the words ‘consultation’ and ‘wide’. Judging from Bucks County Council’s recent attempt to save money on school transport, ‘consultation’ seems to mean you ask the bloke at the desk to your right what he thinks; if you then turn to the one on your left, then you are consulting ‘widely’. No need to bother anyone else. Why slow the process down?

Three local secondary schools discovered without any advance warning at all (let alone consultation), with only days to the end of the school year, that their school bus service was to be radically changed next term.

Eighteen double-deckers would replace the existing coach services, and routes and schedules would be changed. As a result some journey times would increase by up to an hour or more (each way). Many pupils would be obliged to leave home much earlier than before and be home much later. That would really help their attention span during their school day and their ability to continue their studies at home later. Parents pay a significant amount for their children to travel to school, so it seems odd that this unilateral and ill-thought-out initiative could possibly save the £5million over four years BCC allege.

The three heads concerned made it absolutely clear immediately that the proposals were completely unworkable and highlighted their serious concerns about pupil safety.

As a result of the heads’ understandable anxiety and timely intervention, deputy BCC leader Mike Appleyard, has finally met with them and, as a result, seeing the sense of their objections, has delayed any changes until 2015, so that proper consultation can now take place.

Why must it always be like this? Do they think we won’t notice and they might get away with it? That several thousand parents won’t mind their children spending two hours on a bus every day to travel six to ten miles? And did they think they could load all those buses simultaneously outside the schools during peak travel hours?

And to those who will undoubtedly hurrumph that children should walk to school – the world has changed. Traffic is a hundred times worse than when I walked to school and scheduled bus services are now comparatively non-existent. Bucks schools offer excellent education. The least we can do is provide sensible (and affordable) means of getting our children to them.