A COUNCIL breached disability laws when it failed to provide school transport for a GCSE pupil with mobility problems, an investigation found.

Now Lancashire County Council has been ordered to pay compensation and apologise to the pupil after its decision forced her to miss lessons.

The parents of the girl, from Rossendale, referred the county council to the Local Government Ombudsman after it refused to pay for the girl's school transport.

The Ombudsman, who investigates claims of local authority maladministration, ruled the county council failed in its duty under the Disability Discrimination Act.

The authority was ordered to:

  • reimburse a term's transport costs
  • pay the girl's mother £500 and her £150 compensation
  • write a letter apologising
  • develop new procedures for dealing with requests for help with transport costs in three months;
  • ensure council officers are aware of the rules.

The girl, called Amy for legal reasons, developed medical problems which prevented her walking up hills or stairs, three years into high school.

In 2005, Amy's school, nearly four miles from her home, asked the county council to fund her transport which was rejected.

An appeal with more detailed information about the girl's condition was also rejected in October 2005.

Officers ruled there should not make an exception to council rules of only paying for transport if the school was more than three miles from home because there was another school under the mileage limit.

After teachers said it would be unfair to move the pupil in her GCSE year LCC finally agreed to pay for a taxi from January 2006.

Anne Seex who conducted the probe, said: "The council failed at every stage to consider its powers and duties in relation to Amy."

A LCC spokesman said: "The Ombudsman has highlighted a number of policy and procedural improvements which we have agreed to implement fully."