Hard-up town halls in the North East are spending more than £1.4m every week on taxis to take children to and from school amid fears transport services for pupils are at "breaking point".
Across the region nearly 10,000 pupils have taxis to school paid for by their local authorities, who have a legal duty to help children who cannot walk or use public transport to get there, analysis by The Northern Agenda politics newsletter reveals.
The sky-high costs are in part caused by an increase in the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who need to go to a specialist school, often outside the local council's boundaries. Rising fuel prices, wages and inflation are also adding to the cost.
