A blunder by Kent County Council staff has left up to 5,500 vulnerable children with no way of getting to school on Monday.

The council told parents of special needs youngsters it was bringing in a new contractor to ferry pupils to school.

But this week distraught parents received an email saying the new system was still not in place and they would have to make their own arrangements.

Among them was working mum-of-two Emma Dighton, 41, from Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey, whose 11-year-old son Logan has just started going to the Abbey School in Faversham 24 miles away.

She was told on Tuesday there was no transport for her son for Monday when he is due to return after the half-term break.

She stormed: "How am I going to find £100 a day to pay for a taxi? It's all very well KCC saying we will be reimbursed but how many people can shell out that sort of money at such short notice?"

She added: "I work full time and have to take my seven-year-old daughter to school on Sheppey so I can't even take my son myself. How can I be in three places at once? It's impossible.

"If this isn't rectified I'm going to have to email the school to say my son won't be able to go. Why should he suffer because the council hasn't been able to get its act together?

"The local councillors and MP Gordon Henderson aren't helping either. They just tell me to call the helpline. But it's impossible to get through and when you do, they just apologise, say they are still working on it and tell you to make alternative arrangements. They don't realise the impact this is having. It's ridiculous."

The council's website states there will be changes from Monday, February 21 and promised to let parents know of the new arrangements by last Friday.

The changes could mean a new driver, a new route or new travelling companions. It adds: "We know changes to school transport can be unsettling for families so we will give you as much notice as possible of any future changes."

A KCC spokesman said: “We are deeply sorry for the anxiety and worry caused by the delay in notifying parents of new transport arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

“Officers have been working hard to match more than 5,500 children and young people with new transport providers and we regret that, despite best efforts, there are some parents still waiting to hear who their child’s new provider will be. We will contact these parents directly with details over the weekend but we will reimburse parents where they have to make their own arrangements.

“This is not a position we ever anticipated being in and we are immensely sorry for putting parents and young people through this trying time.

“Once provision is fully allocated, we will be conducting a thorough review of what went wrong and why to ensure we learn and put steps in place so this situation is not repeated.

“We understand there will be concerns about new transport providers and we want to reassure parents their child’s needs will be taken into account as assessed by a previous eligibility assessment, including if they need to travel alone or need a passenger assistant.”

A spokeswoman for Gordon Henderson said he had not received a request for help from the mother but added he was working on a number of similar cases.

Today (Friday) Cllr David Brazier, cabinet member for highways and transport, emailed the mother and told her to email KCC if she had not heard from her new transport firm by noon on Sunday.

'It's just not good enough'

She said: "This is not acceptable and is now leaving us parents and our children with no options available to us if transport is not arranged before Monday. My son will not be able to go to school, as will many other children. It's just not good enough."

The email

"Dear parent/carer, We are deeply sorry for the anxiety and worry that our delay in contacting you about your child’s new transport arrangements has caused you and your child.

"Unfortunately, it has taken us longer to complete the process of allocating transport to students than we had anticipated. The team have worked and will continue to work weekends and overtime to complete this work but despite our best efforts, it has taken considerably longer to allocate transport to 5,500 students than we had thought.

"We know that this leaves you and your child with little time to get familiar with the new changes and we are extremely sorry for this.

'We will make sure you are quickly refunded'

"Our focus now is on finalising the remaining transport arrangements so that we can let you know your child’s new transport provider as soon as possible, before your child’s return to school after half-term.

"While we are making every effort to make sure everything is in place for the start of the new school term, we want to reassure you that in the unlikely event a provider cannot be identified, we will work with you to establish an alternative approach to support your child.

"We will also make sure that you are quickly refunded any expenditure you are required to make until your transport arrangements are finalised. You can contact the transport team should you wish to submit any receipts or similar expense details."

The email is signed off by Simon Jones, corporate director, growth, environment and transport, and Matt Dunkley, corporate director, children, young people and education.