THE message from schoolchildren was clear – save our half fares!

City of Oxford Motor Services – now Oxford Bus Company – had decided that children should pay full fares before 9.15am.

That meant parents whose children caught the bus to school would have to pay double the amount they had in the past.

Children weren’t going to give up without a fight – 40 of them, accompanied by some of their parents, organised a protest march through the city centre one Saturday afternoon in April 1971 to make sure their voices were heard.

They assembled at the foot of Headington Hill, then, accompanied by police, walked with their banners through St Clement’s, High Street, Cornmarket Street and George Street to the bus company office in Gloucester Green.

There, they presented a 1,700-signature petition, calling for the re-introduction of early morning half fares for children, to Mr G Dunlop, the company’s traffic superintendent.

Daphne Cloke, one of the leaders of the march, said: “Mr Dunlop offered us a meeting there and then, but we felt it was unfair on the police to make them look after the children outside for such a long time.”

They agreed to meet at a later date.

Meanwhile, the campaign gathered momentum, with numerous letters in the Oxford Mail attacking the bus company’s decision.

Critics said many parents would not be able to afford the higher fares, and it was unsafe in many areas to allow children to walk or cycle to school.

The protesters won the support of three local Tory MPs, Monty Woodhouse (Oxford), Airey Neave (Abingdon) and Neil Marten (Banbury), who invited a delegation to meet them at Westminster.

But the bus company stood firm. It said it could no longer afford to subsidise children’s fares during the morning peak.

* Were you on the march?