CHILDREN as young as four could face a journey to school without any adult supervision after Somerset County Council axed the escort on a bus taking pupils to Williton.

Youngsters from Holford and other villages along the A39 to Williton attending St Peter's First and Danesfield Middle schools have had an escort on their daily journeys for at least the last ten years.

But from September, the driver of the school transport will be the only adult, leaving pupils from four to 13 unsupervised.

The council is blaming the cutback on ongoing savings that have to be made by the authority, which has already identified a £34 million package of cuts across a range of services.

A council spokesman said the authority was confident that the route would remain a safe journey for all children.

But parents of children affected have handed in a petition against the removal of the escort and have condemned the move.

Andy Rock from East Quantoxhead has children aged five and seven who travel to St Peter's on the bus.

"Our main concern is the safety of all the children," Mr Rock told the Free Press.

"If the driver is distracted by something that is going on inside the bus, who knows what could happen."

Mr Rock said he understood that the route was originally allocated an escort because of the age range of the children travelling on the bus, which has pick-up points in Holford, Kilve, East Quantoxhead, St Audries and outside Rydon Farm.

Others have said that poor behaviour by some of the pupils was another reason.

"The A39 is an extremely busy road," said Mr Rock.

"If you have a four-year-old who is surrounded by much older children, you would obviously have concerns about sending them to school without any supervision on that journey.

"I can't imagine that St Peter's would send pupils on a school trip unescorted, with only the driver of the transport to supervise them.

"So I don't see how it can be all right for them to travel to school in this way, especially along such a busy road."

In a statement, the council said: "We have spoken to the schools involved and have agreed to stop providing the school transport escort."

Ian Bradbury, executive head of St Peter's and Danesfield, said the decision to remove the escort was nothing to do with the schools.

"The decision has been made by the county council," he said.

Asked if he was unhappy with the move, Mr Bradbury said: "I know that the behaviour of all our children is excellent.

"Our older children are very responsible and I know that they will be prepared to help the younger ones with things like fastening their seatbelts."