A change in a bus timetable has resulted in an outcry from parents who say the new service does not correspond with the end of the 3.30 pm school day, and will put their young children in danger.

Many, without their own transport, are also concerned about just how they will get their children home from school.

The parents received a letter from Looe Primary School on Tuesday, telling them the 3.30pm service operated by O J Hambly and Sons of Pelynt, would cease as from Monday June 4, meaning it would end today, before the half term break.

The next time tabled bus has been moved to 3.55pm which means the small passengers, some as young as four, may have to wait unaccompanied until the new service, which has been re-scheduled for 3.55pm.

The school is situated at the Barbican end of Looe, which is approximately a mile from East Looe town centre. Until now, the full sized coach, has run on an informal arrangement - it is not an official county school bus - to pick up the primary children and transport them safely to drop off points at the Health Centre in East Looe, and outside the Fire Station in West Looe. It then carries on even further with children who live out along the Polperro road. One mother said the bus is always packed tight with children, and she cannot understand why the service has been changed. She said she lived almost four miles from the school and did not have a car.

'I have two children attending the school, and it costs me £13 a week in fares, but I know they are safe on the bus, and the lady driver is always very helpful' she said. 'But now I don't know what I am going to do. No parent these days would want a child of primary school age hanging around in a playground after school, unaccompanied for half an hour. It is asking for trouble. I am considering keeping my children at home until I can find alternative arrangements. I might have to find another school'.

Bus company proprietor Mr Philip Hambly, says he has had no alternative but to re-schedule his service. 'I am afraid it is all about economics' he said. He said he had been running the school bus for ten years but it had been unviable for several years.

Mr Hambly said his choices had been to discontinue the service altogether, raise fares substantially, reduce the size of the vehicle to a 31 seater which would leave some children standing at the side of the road, or integrate the service with another route.

'Hamblys has been in business since 1920 and we are not in the habit of upsetting our customers, but we have to run a viable service.'

Head teacher Mr T Wardle was not available for comment.