Those of a certain age will remember when children went to their nearest school and very often walked there and back.

But for many years now parents have been allowed to choose which school they would like their child to attend, and this can mean long journeys in the mornings and afternoons.

To cater for this parental choice, Bradford Council has had a policy of providing discretionary free bus travel to transport pupils to and from school – with certain conditions, in that the closest school must be three miles or above away from the family home whether the child goes there or to one further away.

Now, in cost-cutting measures, the Council looks as though it is imposing a new regime which means that some free school bus services might be scrapped and children will have to pay fares to get to schools further from their homes.

While the idea that this might encourage more children to go to a more local school is perhaps welcome to those who remember the old days, the fact that parents and children can still choose their school whatever the geography is not going to go away.

Which means that while those families who can absorb the extra burden of bus fares, or who have the time and means to transport their children to school by other means, will probably not suffer, this change of policy is likely to hit those families hardest who can least afford it.

If there is to be a continued democratisation of the education system, then it should be for all and not create a two-tier system between those who can afford to choose and those who cannot.