Some pupils have been refused bus passes because of a county council mix-up over catchment areas.

And the youngsters have been told they will have to pay for passes if they want to remain at the same school.

Essex County Council has sent letters out to a handful of students who live in Silver End and attend Rickstones School in Witham informing them they will no longer get free transport because they are not in the catchment area.

Council officers re-measured the distances between the village and both the Conrad Road school in Witham and Alec Hunter School in Stubbs Lane, Braintree.

And they found that six children from Silver End live closer to Alec Hunter than Rickstones which changes their catchment area for free transport.

Pupil Christopher Maile, 11, of Silver Street, is one of the those affected and his parents Gillian and Brian are disgusted with the decision.

Mrs Maile said: "I cannot believe they've done it. Some kids that live next door to each other have been told that one is closer to Rickstones and the other Alec Hunter. I am so angry."

Phil Barlow, a county councillor and chairman of governors at Rickstones, said for as many years as he could remember the county council had said the closest secondary school for children from Silver End was Rickstones not Alec Hunter.

He added: "The ironic thing is that some of these houses are in the same street just feet away from each other but the children will have to go to different schools if they want their bus passes paid for."

Viv Gilla, systems and assessment manager for passenger transport at Essex County Council, said: "A number of applications for bus passes came in and the catchment was reassessed and that's how it was discovered."

Published Thursday November 29, 2001