CHILDREN with additional needs are missing out on education, a concerned parent has said.

Tamzin Bithell, of Llay, said her son Reiss Jones is severely autistic and attends the Derwen College in Gobowen near Oswestry to help with his special education requirements.

The 15-year-old uses an escorted taxi service provided by Wrexham Council to get to and from school, however Ms Bithell says something needs to be done and improvements need to be made.

She told the Leader that her son, amongst other children who attend the school out of county, are left unable to attend school if the staff escorts are off as there are no relief staff to cover.

She added: “There’s a massive problem with Wrexham transport. They have escorts that take them in taxis to take them to the school.

“At the moment they have no back up staff and if they are off then Wrexham council are cancelling their school runs which means the children are just left and can’t go to school unless you’re able to figure out how to take them in.

“A lot of these children have got special education needs they are disabled and can’t handle breaks in their routine. They can’t just have time off, it’s so disruptive.

“We’ve just settled him into a new school, he’s very, very complex. When he has a meltdown, it can go on for ten days, the effects it can have.”

Tamzin said that these children have a right to education and to access these provisions, however too often are left to find their own way to school.

In the past her son has not responded well to the break in his routine, often being left confused and agitated.

She said: “Oswestry from Wrexham is a long way, a lot of these children are out of county. If their escort is off it means some kids aren’t going to school all week.

“If we were to keep our child off school for a week we would be in serious trouble. We’d have fines but it’s perfectly okay for Wrexham Council to be doing this to children.

“It’s absolutely disgusting. There’s loads it’s happening to. People are writing complaints to the council, but we can’t do anything.

“Something needs to be looked at because they have no provisions for relief staff or a support form.

“Children right across the board are missing out on education because of this.

“I feel sorry for these escorts, they are fantastic and it's frustrating for them as they are on the front line.”

Tamzin said she is lucky enough to be able to change her hours at work to be able to take her child to school, however fears this may not be the case for many other parents.

She told the Leader: “Reiss has had to stay off school and it’s confusing, it’s a break in his routine. The longer it goes on, the worse it is.

“I will take him to school for the next two days purely because I don’t want to trigger a meltdown.

“We’ve just got him settled but we are worried that this will become the norm. They will think it’s okay for them to do this because we will take him to school and when they do send a taxi it will cause a problem because he won’t know what the norm is and that ends up in meltdown.

"I’m lucky my hours can be rejigged but if I had 9-5 job I'd be sacked by now.

“It’s a massive problem and kids are being affected by it and it’s not fair. Something needs to be done. It needs to change it’s been going on long time.”

A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: “Unfortunately, due to a number of escort absences and the allocation of relief staff, we did not have staff on hand to cover this transport and had to make the decision to cancel usual transport arrangements.

“Every effort is made to find replacement measures and to ensure the minimum of disruption to service users, and it is unfortunate that circumstances have affected cover in this instance.”

A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: "A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: “Unfortunately, due to a number of escort absences and the allocation of relief staff, we did not have staff on hand to cover this transport and had to make the decision to cancel usual transport arrangements.

“Every effort is made to find replacement measures and to ensure the minimum of disruption to service users, and it is unfortunate that circumstances have affected cover in this instance.”