AN ANGRY dad has hit out at county council chiefs over their "astonishing" guidelines on bus passes for schoolchildren.

Chris Church is having to fork out £300 a year for transport for 11-year-old daughter Amy so he can send her to a Christian school seven miles away from the family's Barnoldswick home.

Lancashire County Council, the education authority, will only subsidise transport if Amy is sent to a Church of England school in Accrington - the nearest school for Barnoldswick Anglicans.

But a spokesman explained that the county would not pay for Amy to go to a Catholic church school in Colne because it was a different denomination.

Now Mr Church, of Gillians Lane, has written to his MP and county councillors David Whipp and Tim Ormrod in disgust.

The father of two, married to Pamela, a local primary school teacher, said Amy was being discriminated against because of her religion.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice today branded the decision 'astonishing' and has vowed to take the matter up with Lancashire County Council.

Mr Church, a journalist, added: "The County's policy deems that 'the nearest suitable school' for a Catholic child is the nearest RC school - whatever its location - but for other Christians it is simply the nearest secular school.

"Therefore a Christian family's choice of the nearest Christian school is considered purely elective -- so no bus pass.

"Fisher More is the only Christian school the County provides within any practical travelling parameters of Barnoldswick.

"The nearest C of E high school in Accrington would necessitate a near-impossible 175 miles a week of commuting.

"Both the Fisher More staff and the Rector of our Church, St Mary's, Thornton-in-Craven, are extremely supportive of our case and find the situation quite ridiculous in an era of equality.

"If our second daughter were lucky enough to be accepted there in two years' time, the total cost would be around £600 a year."

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said the education authority guidelines said only children who went to a church school of their denomination were eligible for bus passes. He said the situation was 'fairly rare' but conceded it 'did happen from time to time'.

He added: "Mr Church wants a denominational education for his child and the nearest Cof E school is St Christopher's in Accrington. If he had been given a place there he would have received travel expenses. Understandably, the family did not want her to go that far.

"We cannot pay the travelling expenses for her to go to Fisher More given it isn't her denomination. She could have gone to West Craven, which is nearer and is also not her denomination.

"It's not a case of being Christian - it's down to denomination and she is not a Catholic."