PARENTS at a Newport secondary school claim their children are riding in unsuitable vehicles after yellow school buses were withdrawn from some parts of the city.

Yellow school buses are now only running as shuttle services between the city centre and Duffryn, Hartridge and Bettws high schools as Newport City Transport attempts to cater for an increased number of pupils this academic year.

But parents at St Joseph’s are unhappy their children now travel on double decker and public buses, and say concerns about safety leave them with little option but to drive their children to school.

Newport City Transport is now driving around 1,800 pupils to school after the city council offered free travel to all children living two miles or more from their chosen school.

In previous years this threshhold was three miles.

To cope with the increased demand, double decker and service buses have been introduced on school routes.

But parents say this strategy is unsafe because many of these buses have no seat belts and children are having to stand because of drivers are not counting the number of pupils boarding their vehicle.

Lisa Weaver’s two children Lucinda, 15, and Mitchell, 11, both attend St Joseph's High School and are now travelling on double deckers.

She said: “No one can keep an eye on the children and if a driver has to break when it’s over crowded you could have a dozen children going through the windscreen of the bus.”

But managing director of Newport City Transport Chris Blythe said the new system provided more flexibility for school children as they could use both public and designated school services and he stressed that the same number of yellow buses were still being used.

He added: “Our commitment to safety is our number one priority and all buses are fitted with CCTV.”