SCHOOL buses are travelling to and from Dunfermline High School every day ... despite them being empty.

Former councillor Bob Young, who lives on the school bus route, was left bewildered to see around 10 buses pull up to the school each weekday morning and then return to pick up pupils that they never brought in, since education moved to home learning during lockdown.

After contacting Fife Council about the matter last week, he was told that pupils of frontline key workers might need the transport but he said multiple empty buses were still rolling by.

Fife Council have confirmed to the Press that they have continued to run all school transport to get a clearer picture of demand and will soon stop transport if no-one is using it once they have the data.

Mr Young, who retired from politics in 2017 after four decades serving Dunfermline constituents, told the Press: "The reason given by the council must be the stupidest answer I have ever received.

"I decided to leave it for a few days but it is still going on this week!

"There is probably about 10 buses coming every day and they're clearly not needed.

"If there was just a few pupils on them I could understand it but there is not a single soul on them.

"I can't think why some pupils who need to come in can't be transported on a minibus which would be more suitable.

"This an absolute waste of fuel and everything about it is wrong. It's just stupid.

"If they are doing this at other schools that means that there are dozens of buses that are just running empty.

"They will know the number of children whose parents are key workers so they can plan for that.

"I cannot work it out."

Service manager Neil Finnie commented: “All of our schools are open to support key workers’ children and vulnerable children during this second lockdown.

“School transport has continued to run over these first few days until we are clearer on demand and the number of children who need to use buses to get to and from school. We need to consider that some pupils may not need to travel every day if their parents work on a shift basis, and that key worker applications are also still being processed.

"We have asked bus contractors to monitor daily numbers and we hope to have more specific information on attendance from schools very soon that will allow us to stop some school transport if no-one is using the service.”