Dad reprimanded for letting daughter, 7, walk 20 metres alone to catch school bus

A dad has been reprimanded by council bosses for letting his seven-year-old daughter walk 20 metres alone to catch the bus to school. Isabelle McCullough is a pupil at Normanby-by-Spital Primary School, near Gainsborough, and is picked up by the school bus from the top of the courtyard, where she lives in Glentham.

But dad Mark McCullough, 32, received a letter from Lincolnshire County Council on Friday saying unless Isabelle is accompanied to and from the school bus stop, the situation will be reported as a "child protection issue". The letter states the driver feels obliged to help Isabelle safely cross Caenby Road at the end of the day, when the bus drops her on the opposite side of the road to Chapel Court.



The letter also criticises Mr McCullough for sending Isabelle to school without a jumper on Thursday morning. Mr McCullough, who works as a refuse collector, says he or his partner Natasha Fegan, 33, are always at home when Isabelle leaves or returns from school and they listen out for the bus.

The couple have two children together and three from Mr McCullough's previous relationship, including Isabelle. He said: "It's more than upsetting, it has made me angry. I am happy for Isabelle to walk from home to the end of the road and, if necessary, cross a country lane and walk home. I'm not going to wrap them up in cotton wool."

Update: The council have now backed down.