A POWICK councillor has challenged a transport boss to travel on a crammed school bus where children "fall over" in the aisle because they have no seats.

Tom Wells, county councillor for Powick, has thrown down the gauntlet to Derek Prodger, cabinet member for transport at Worcestershire County Council, and he has accepted.

Coun Wells, a Liberal Democrat, says the 44A from Powick to Dyson Perrins School in Malvern, run by First Buses, is a safety risk.

Coun Wells, a Liberal Democrat, said children were literally falling over in the aisle, falling into people's laps and that the smaller children could not reach the hand grips.

He said: "Children have been saying they fall over every time the driver brakes. Would Derek Prodger be prepared for his grandchildren to travel to school on this bus? I'm throwing down the gauntlet to him. It's a very dangerous road and the council has washed its hands of its duty of care for these children. It's immoral."

Coun Wells has already said Worcestershire County Council has abdicated responsibility for the children by opting to use a private, commercial company to run school services.

Coun Prodger said he would gladly accept the challenge and was prepared to stand all the way.

He added: "I will go on the bus with him. If the buses are not running reliably then I will have a look at that but the Powick bridge is under repair at the moment which is causing some delays."

Coun Wells said although 44 and 44a buses ran every 20 minutes only two of these went anywhere near Dyson Perrins School - the 7.40am service which gets children into school half an hour too early when the school gates are still locked and the 8.15am service which gets them in too late, after registration when they are marked as absent.

Although the 8.15am bus is timetabled to get in to school so children can get to registration on time, Coun Wells says it is often 10 minutes late.

He has also criticised overcrowding on the 44 service to The Chase Technology College which leaves Powick at 8.03am.

First Buses operations manager David Brookes said: "All our buses conform to current regulations, there are rails on the back of the seats for anyone who isn't able to reach the overhead rails or vertical poles on the bus.

"The frequency of the 44 and 44A varies depending on the time of day, it's every 20 minutes at peak times. We would be more than happy to look at the timetable with the school to see how the bus and school timetable can be co-ordinated better."