Taxi firm saves the day after thieves hit Telford school

Staff at Southall School in Dawley arrived earlier this week to find two tyres each had been taken from three of its four vehicles, with a spare tyre removed from the fourth.

It has rendered them unusable until checks and repairs could be carried out to see what damage had been caused – a process that could take days or even weeks.

Pupils, all of whom have learning difficulties, were worried they might miss out on pre-arranged trips and outings.

Local taxi firm A Star Taxis, which takes some of the pupils into school every morning, has since stepped forward to offer the school the use of its minibuses and taxis for the cost of petrol only. Headteacher Jo Burdon said: "It is probably going to cost a few thousand pounds, because it happened on different buses, and there is individual damage to each bus, so the insurance is not worth claiming on because of the excess.

"As a total amount, the school has obviously got to find funding to cover all that."

She added: "One of our regular transporters, A-Star Taxis, came on site to drop students off, saw the damage and very generously came straight in to see me to offer the use of their own taxis and minibuses, should we need them, purely for the cost of petrol only. It has restored my faith in human nature which had been dented by the criminals who stole from and vandalised our buses. We are very grateful."

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101.