A dad is angry that his daughter could miss lessons due to a cutback in school transport.

Ever since Leonard Jackson's daughter Leah, 17, began her A-level course in September, she has had problems getting from her home in Middle Barton to Chipping Norton School.

Six other pupils have also been affected.

Mr Jackson said: "It is ludicrous. Leah's transport is relying on a fluke and someone else being ill so there is a spare seat."

The school sometimes sends out its own minibus to collect pupils and once Leah had a lift from a passing teacher. The problem has been caused by Oxfordshire county councillors deciding not to pay for transport for sixth-formers.

But they agreed that if there were spaces on buses run for younger pupils, sixth-formers could take up seats at £60 a term.

Unfortunately, there were more sixth-formers in Middle Barton than spare seats.

Now the school has agreed to dip into its funds after governors pledged that all A-level students would have transport.

Headteacher Richard Graydon said the school could pay £18,000 a year by hiring a minibus at £6,000 a term.

Mr Graydon said: "This amount would pay the wage of another teacher at the school. We do not get extra funding for transport although we cover one of the most rural parts of Oxfordshire." So far they have collected Middle Barton students with their minibus or relied on younger children being ill leaving spare seats.

Woodstock county councillor David Nicholson said they would try to reinstate the transport in the 1999/2000 budget.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.