Sir,

Further to the letter from Clr. Rosemary Hayes, in last week's Observer, titled 'School transport response', I was interested in her reference to the panel. I would assume she is referring to the county council's hazardous road safety panel.

She also states, the courts have held that a route is available if a child accompanied as necessary, can walk along it with reasonable safety to school.

If my experience was anything to go by when dealing with this panel, I would certainly be calling into question the panel's judgement when they refer to what is reasonably safe.

This same panel deemed it to be reasonably safe for the school children and parents of Jameston village to walk to school on the A4139 with no footpath and with lorries, buses and cars passing them within inches at a legal speed limit of 60 mph.

I would dread to think what it might be like, when Clr. Hayes says the same panel had adjudged some routes to be unsafe.

Interestingly enough, our cabinet member for transport, Clr. Brian Hall said in a recent interview it did not matter when the children of Jameston got a safe route to school, because the children would now be taken to school by a new school minibus in order to remove the danger element of them having to walk to school, yet last year, the same route was reasonably safe to walk along, according to the panel.

With reference to the explanation from Clr. Hayes about children travelling to school on school transport, she would have appeared to have completely overlooked the issues concerning properly fitted seat-belts to school transport.

Pembrokeshire County Council must move away from the culture of awarding school transport on the basis of the lowest tender price to transport our school children, ironically, I see Clr. Hayes's council colleagues were discussing at the last cabinet meeting, the framework for the delivery of services of animal health and welfare. There is at present more statutory regulations in force for transporting of livestock, than there is for transporting our children to school, this surely cannot be right.

Tony Wales,

North Norton,

Manorbier.