SCHOOLCHILDREN from Stoke Prior are set for a head-on collision with the county council over payment of bus fares.

The children are still boarding a coach in defiance of a county council order and a parents group says Worcestershire County Council will have to "physically stop" them getting on.

The parents fear that the journey of 2.8 miles on foot from the village to South Bromsgrove High School is too dangerous But they have been told by the council it is inside the three-mile free pass limit and they must now pay £71 a term.

Three coaches pick up 57 children in the village and 30 of them have paid, said mother-of-four Kate Troth, chairperson of the Stoke Prior Safety for Children Group. The other 27 have been getting on board since the start of term and the council has given them 10 days grace, which ended on Monday.

"The route is not safe to walk," Mrs Troth said. "It will soon be dark and the children are being asked to walk along unlit country roads to get to school."

The children were given temporary free passes in 1997 because the A38 at Stoke Heath was thought to be unsafe to walk along. But Roger Woodward, county council road safety officer, said it had been monitored twice, the latest on Monday this week, between 8am and 9am and there was plenty of time to cross in complete safety since the installation of a pedestrian controlled crossing.

The council's network co-ordinator, Peter Roberts, said the authority was following national rules and intended to stick by its decision to remove the free travel.

"We're hoping to resolve this without resorting to legal action but we won't hesitate to pursue the payments," he said.

"Monitoring officers will continue to take names and letters requesting payment will then be sent to parents."

The non-payment issue occasionally crops up across the county, he added, but the Stoke Prior situation was unusual because of the numbers of children involved.

"The children are the innocent party," he said. "It's the parents' responsibility to get them to school and they have to pay."

Mrs Troth said the children would continue to get on the bus.

"They will have to physically stop the children boarding. If it comes to it, we will stand in front of the coach until they're allowed on." The parents plan to deliver a 700-name petition to the county council tomorrow (Thursday).