A bus company has made changes to a school service after parents raised safety concerns.

More than 3,000 children attend schools and nurseries in and around Common Lane in Wilmington, and it is regularly gridlocked with cars, vans and buses at drop-off and pick-up times.

Some vehicles have to mount pavements, raising concerns for the safety of pedestrians.

Now Arriva is making changes to services to reduce congestion. All its buses to Wilmington schools will now run via Church Hill, High Road and Common Lane. It is one of several changes to Arriva’s timetable, which were brought in last Monday.

An additional Fastrack A service is now running towards Dartford on weekday mornings, along with some other minor changes to that timetable.

Changes to the 481 service schedule have introduced later evening departures from Bluewater.

A new term-time service on route 482 in Gravesend, between Riverview Park and St George’s School and running via Hall Road, Painter’s Ash Lane, Dene Holm Road, Coldharbour Road and New House Lane, is being introduced.

However, the changes also see the cancellation of the 07.50 from Dartford (Home Gardens) to St George’s School and the 15.28 reverse journey on service 497, due to low passenger numbers.

Service 111 has also ceased, also due to insufficient use.

Craig Taylor, marketing manager for Arriva, said: “The changes to the Fastrack A and 481 timetables are as a result of customer feedback.

“While it is disappointing that passenger numbers mean we have had to withdraw services on two routes, these and other changes will help us improve reliability in the Gravesend and Dartford areas.”