A SCHOOLGIRL about to start the run-up to her GCSEs has been left stranded through cuts to school transport.

Katie Walters, 15, from Silchester Way, Westlea, West Swindon, begins the final year of her GCSEs at Bradon Forest School in Purton in September.

But her parents say she will not be able to get the four miles to school on time because Wiltshire County Council is cutting her place on its school bus.

The authority, which runs Bradon Forest School even though 70 per cent of pupils come from Swindon, said that an increase in numbers meant that only those students who were inside its catchment area would be entitled to transport.

Katie's family have one car and her father Norman, 47, starts work for Nationwide at the Hawksworth Industrial Estate at 8.30am.

There are only two buses to Purton available one leaves at 6.30am and the other at 8.50am. The 8.50am bus does not get to the school until 9.30am, 45 minutes after lessons have started.

Katie's mother Carol said if the council did not give her daughter a place on the bus the only option would be to get to school late.

She said: "I am angry with Swindon and Wiltshire councils because nobody will help me and it is not possible for my daughter to get to school on time without the bus. I am not the only person affected by this, there are at least a dozen more.

"I sent a letter to parents affected via the school and within hours I had four replies from people stuck in the same situation."

Mrs Walters has vowed to fight the ruling and is supported by the school.

Deputy head Philip Scott said parents can use a room at the school for meetings and that he was angry because the school had not been told about the plan.

When Katie started school she was given free bus transport to school.

Wiltshire County Council then removed Katie's free bus pass and told her to pay for a pass.

It is planning to run a single decker school bus, forcing parents who live outside its catchment area to make their own arrangements to get their children to school.

Wiltshire County Council spokesman Lucia Phillips said: "The county council has been investigating whether it will be possible to provide a larger bus, but it appears that this would require additional subsidy."

Swindon Council spokesman Adrian Ruck said: "We sympathise but the council is not in a position to provide transport for children who, through parental choice, are not attending their designated schools."