PARENTS will be forced to pay up £40 per month to pay for school travel despite 98.5 per cent opposition to the proposals.

According to one school, Lancashire County Council has ‘railroaded’ parents in the face of 4,401 objections from 4,472 responses during a consultation.

The council has decided to go ahead with plans to scrap free bus passes and charge parents £2 a day per child for bus fares to faith school.

It will save the county council, which is making around £180million of cuts from its £725million budget, £2million a year.

Currently children aged under eight who are two miles from a faith school get free travel.

Those older than eight need to live three miles away to qualify.

At present, 5,400 pupils receive the free travel.

St Christopher’s C of E High School, Accrington, chairman of governors Frank Whitehead said the school drew in pupils from as far away as Cliviger and Pendle.

He said the move would hit parents with more than one child at a faith school.

Mr Whitehead said: “Contrary to opinion our students don’t have Chelsea tractors. Some have economic problems.

“It a fundamental loss of freedom of choice.

“People have been railroaded into this. It is very unfair.”

Rev Fr Brian Kealey, chair of governors for Blessed Trinity RC College in Burnley, said: “Faith schools by their nature take a very wide catchment area.

“It is determined by faith and crosses social and economic barriers.

"We have students from the poorest and richest backgrounds.

“We feel for the parents – they have been condemned to the massive expense.”

The county council failed to provide a new statement to the Lancashire Telegraph explaining why it had taken the move.

Instead it re-issued a comment from the county’s cabinet member for schools, Susie Charles, which was originally sent out when the consultation was launched in June.

In it she said they had introduce the changes given the budget reductions they were facing.