‘BEWILDERED’ parents have challenged council officers to walk the ‘unsafe’ school route suggested for their children ahead of potential bus cuts.

Families in Arncott, near Bicester, have made the stand against Oxfordshire County Council’s proposal to terminate the free school travel from between the area's two villages and Five Acres Primary School in Ambrosden.

They say there is a list of factors that pose a risk to safety for schoolchildren on the 60mph road, and have urged a rethink.

Five Acres Primary School chairwoman of governors Laura Wilson said: “The community is incredibly concerned on many levels and feel that many factors have not been given the serious consideration they deserve.

“The approximate 1.6 miles that forms the route is incredibly unsafe, and a long stretch of this road has a single pathway along a 60mph route where cars routinely reach this speed.

“In order to get from Arncott to Ambrosden, families would need to cross the road many times and with the volume of traffic at the times of day they’d be walking, this would be incredibly unsafe with no crossings.”

Parents have sent a letter urging the council to change its plans, as well as creating a petition which has already gained more than 500 signatures.

Oxfordshire County Council says the service was originally provided on the assumption that the route between Upper and Lower Arncott to Ambrosden was not safe to walk.

But a re-assessment of the route by Road Safety GB has found a safe walking route between the both for children to walk with an adult, meaning the service is no longer allowed on safety grounds.

Council spokesman Paul Smith added: “A total of 26 children are affected, and all have a distance of less than two miles from their home to school. The ‘statutory walking distance’ is two miles for a child aged under eight and three miles for a child aged over eight.

If applied the service would be withdrawn in January.