Letter: Choosing chaos

Sir: Gillian Shephard, the shadow Transport Secretary, has called for children to walk or cycle to school in order to reduce the levels of traffic on the roads (report, 16 March). What a great idea - if only their schools were within walking or cycling distance.

The grant-maintained status of schools and parents' school choice, implemented by the Tories, has produced a shambles whereby children cannot attend their local schools. Parents in Bishops Stortford are now having to send their children to a school in Stansted, Essex, up to nine miles away, because all the local schools are full of children from outside the town. One child actually lives next door to his local school but will have to be transported to Stansted.

JOHN R E BELL

Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire