Abercarn route changed after school bus veered off road (From South Wales Argus)

Abercarn route changed after school bus veered off road

1:20pm Saturday 2nd February 2013 in Gwent news By Natalie Crockett

A SCHOOL bus route has been changed after a coach carrying primary school pupils veered down a verge during the recent bad weather.

A notice posted by Abercarn Primary School head teacher Gareth Roden via the school’s Twitter account, said that with effect from January 30, a smaller 41-seater bus would be used to transport children to school from the village via a new route.

It will leave at 8.35am as normal at the bottom of Gwyddon Road, before going on to Bryn Road, then Llanfach Post Office and onto Clytha Square.

It will then return back down the same way, which is a route used by Stagecoach’s N2 service.

It will no longer travel down Pulka Hill where a 52-seater bus carrying 16 pupils narrowly avoided falling down a 20ft drop during the snowy weather on January 21.

The bus carrying youngsters aged between five and 11 left the road crashing through trees before coming to a stop metres from two houses on the road below.

Three children suffered minor injuries, including a bump to the head and an injured ankle. They were checked over by a doctor at the nearby St Luke’s Surgery before they were taken back to the school where parents collected them.

Witnesses to the crash said the bus appeared skid on ice and said the road appeared to be untreated. The new route is on the council’s gritting route. A spokesman for Stagecoach said changes were made after parents raised concerns.

He said: "As a result of concern expressed by parents on behalf of their children we have managed to work with the local authority to amend the route taken by this school service. The new route follows the same routing as our local daytime bus service N2."

Gwent Police confirmed no arrests were made in connection with the incident.

A spokesperson for Caerphilly County Borough Council said, "Ensuring the safety of our school pupils remains of the utmost importance to us, and so following concerns raised by parents, we have asked Stagecoach to review their bus route, ensuring they transport pupils to and from the school using a road on the council's gritting route. Usual pick up points however, remain the same".