A mother has hit out after her asthmatic daughter was told to walk down a "lonely country lane" to get to school.

Gloria Stageman has been told her 11-year-old daughter Hannah will not get a free bus pass as they live less than three miles from school.

Instead she said Essex County Council suggested the girl should walk from her home in Holland Road, Little Clacton, over a stile, through a field and down a country lane to get to Tendring Technology College in Thorpe.

Mrs Stageman appealed to Little Clacton Parish Council for help at last night's meeting.

She said: "They are expecting her to walk down a lonely country lane, across fields, just because I lived 2.7 miles away from the school.

"I am totally disgusted about it all."

Under the rules Hannah would be entitled to a free pass if she lived more than three miles from school.

The parish council agreed to write to county council to protest and said the route should be properly marked out to check the distance.

Hannah started her new school today and Mrs Stageman drove her but said she would be unable to always do that as she worked.

Mike Barnett, education spokesman for the county council, said the three-mile rule was laid down by law.

"If the mother has concerns about the nature of the route we would always look again at it, we do make exceptions to the rule."

He added officers did go out and walk routes and they normally included footpaths, footways and roads.

Mr Barnett said that the council spent £20 million a year on transport which was cash that could be spent in the classroom so the authority tried to limit that spending.

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