A mother has resorted to driving her son to a special needs unit in Aberystwyth from Lampeter herself and staying there all day to then bring him home, after Ceredigion council changed the school transport service for county youngsters with learning disabilities.

Last month, the Cambrian News reported that concerned parents of autistic children at Llwyn yr Eos school in Penparcau and at the special needs unit in Aberaeron have raised objections to changes in school transport services that they say the youngsters will “struggle to cope with”.

Ceredigion council undertook a tendering exercise for school taxi and transport services for children with additional learning needs, including autism, and wrote to parents and carers to make them aware.

When the changes came in, however, some angry parents boycotted the new services.

Emma Davies of Lampeter, whose son attends the unit in Penparcau, has raised an official complaint with Ceredigion council and is “driving her son from Lampeter to Aberystwyth and back every day, and spending the whole day sat in Aberystwyth so as not to make that journey twice in one day” rather than use the new services.

Emma said that the council has “put up a brick wall”.

She added that decisions were made “completely oblivious to the anxiety and stress that this causes to families like our own”.

“My son attends the Enfys Unit at Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos in Aberystwyth because he has severe, non-verbal autism and profound special needs,” Emma said.

“Our son does not respond well to changes.

“I do not feel that his emotional wellbeing, or the affect that this change in continuity will have on him has been taken into consideration whatsoever.

Answering previous concerns from parents last month, a council spokesperson told the Cambrian News that “making sure that children and young people have the best type of transport to school is very important”.

“We also need to comply with the law when buying services like transport, by doing so in a fair and open way,” the spokesperson said.

“The needs of children and young people are carefully considered and we make every effort to solve any issues that could happen when there are changes to the service.”

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now