Parents’ “rude” and “aggressive” behaviour has been blamed for the cancellation of a school bus service.

Barnett’s Coaches cancelled its 852-bus route running between Hemel Hempstead and St Clement Danes School in Chenies Road, Chorleywood, on September 19.

Some parents have claimed they were given less than 24 hours’ notice that the service had come to an end.

Watford Observer: St Clement Danes School in Chenies Road, Chorleywood, does not have any authority over Barnett's Coaches.St Clement Danes School in Chenies Road, Chorleywood, does not have any authority over Barnett's Coaches. (Image: Google Street View)

Yesterday, (October 4), a spokesperson for the company did not reveal the length of notice parents were given, but did say that they have been refunded.

The Hertfordshire-based business told the Watford Observer that it was running the route as a “temporary favour” to another company that was unable to run the service.

Barnett’s has claimed it took the “difficult decision” to leave the service “due to the extreme abuse” its staff received from some parents.

It has been alleged that it took place over the phone “on a daily basis” and one parent attended the office to complain in person about delays.

The spokesperson said: “There were a few minute delays some days, but this was down to general traffic.”

In one alleged incident, one of the drivers was left feeling “extremely low and anxious” after a parent shouted at him for being late and called him "a joke" in front of “laughing children”.

The spokesperson added: “I cannot express the stress and upset the parents have caused, we have always run the service the best we could, the children were always picked up and never left.”

The company has also claimed that since leaving the service, some parents have told it “there is a parents’ communications group, which in their words was ‘a complete witch hunt’.

“They feared reading the actions of some parents boasting about how they have treated us, would at some point result in us terminating the service for our own protection”.

St Clement Danes School does not have any control or authority over the independent bus company, but it is liaising with other bus companies.  

Its deputy headteacher Andy Harris said: “If students are genuinely struggling to get into school, or arrive late, parents can notify us via the attendance line.

“The school will not seek to apply consequences in these cases.”