Penny-pinching bureaucrats are accused of putting pupils’ safety at risk after withdrawing free bus travel for a group of children.

Mum Jayne Hewish, 47, is spearheading a campaign to get the service reinstated after Kent County Council insisted that eight pupils from Lenham travelling to Invicta Grammar School take the train to save on costs.

But the changes could add as much as an hour each way to pupil journeys.

Mrs Hewish, of Old Ashford Road, says she worries for the safety of her daughter Georgia, 13, as travelling by train also means in an early morning walk.

The mum-of-two said that instead of catching the 10 X bus from the bottom of their drive, Georgia now faces a 20-minute trek to the train station, leaving at 7am, and on arrival in Maidstone has a further 25-minute walk to school.

Mrs Hewish, a clerical assistant at Lenham Primary School, said: “My daughter is extremely stressed at the longer day and longer journey she is now facing; in reality this could possibly add an extra hour each way.”

She added: “This seems an outrageously early start for a young girl, not to mention a long and dark walk through a village in the winter months.”

In a twist to the row, pupils travelling to Oakwood Park Grammar School will still be able to catch the bus from Lenham, as their walk from the train station is 0.8 miles longer.

The cost of a peak day return from Lenham to Maidstone by bus is £4.90 and the same journey costs £2.75 by train, saving just £2.15.

KCC’s travel home school transport budget has been slashed in 2013/14 to £11.5m from £13m the previous financial year and the authority says that it must continuously review travel arrangements to ensure it is getting best value for money.

There are 14,000 pupils who receive assistance with travel and it is feared that all school journeys are now coming under scrutiny.