WORRIED parents who fear school bus routes will be axed for dozens of children have called an emergency meeting.

Bus chiefs pulled the 127 service between Middlebrook and Chorley earlier this month and parents say children will be stranded when they return to school next week.

As well as providing a lifeline service for hundreds of elderly people in Blackrod, it served several children from Blackrod and Adlington who use the 127 service to and from St Michael's Secondary School in Chorley.

The privately operated service ran hourly, Monday to Saturday, between Middlebrook and Chorley, via Blackrod and Adlington. But bosses at Stagecoach North-west decided to stop the service, claiming it was "no longer commercially viable".

Elizabeth Haughton, of Church Street, Blackrod, has a 12-year-old son at the Astley Road school. She said: "A lot of parents in the village are very concerned about what this will mean when our children go back to school this week. Hopefully, we can try and get some support from other people who feel let down by the loss of this service."

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 15, at Hilltop Social Club, Hill Lane, Blackrod, at 7.30pm.