Businessman paid £6 a week by the taxpayer to drive daughter to school
SWNS/GETTY Howard Millington is being paid by the taxpayer to drive his daughter to and from school
The fee was agreed after Howard Millington, 48, was told four-year-old Molly-Anne could not attend a school the family can "almost see" from their home. Mr Millington had accused the council of attempting to "fob" him off after they told him there were not enough places for Molly-Anne at Staplegrove Primary School. She has been allocated a place at Norton Fitzwarren, 1.7 miles from their house. When Mr Millington appealed the decision, arguing that the walk to Norton was too dangerous, the council offered to pay his travel costs at 18p per mile.
I don't need the money and I think it's wrong that they pay you to take your child to school Howard Millington
The rules state that a child aged under eight is expected to walk to school unless it is more than two miles away or the route is too dangerous to walk. The payments have not yet started but Howard says he will be given around £6 a week for travel expenses. That will work out at around £1,600 for the next seven years when she will go to secondary school. Mr Millington, of Taunton, Somerset, said: "We were quite prepared to walk to Staplegrove - it's two fields and a footpath - but the route to Norton is too dangerous.
SWNS Howard Millington with his son Harvey, who attended the school little Molly-Anne was denied to go to
"When the council said they would send someone to test the route I told them I would follow him with a wheelbarrow and a shovel ready to scoop him off the road. "In the end, he refused to walk the route because it was too dangerous. "They tried to fob me off. I don't need the money and I think it's wrong that they pay you to take your child to school. "But there must be people missing out who are entitled to claim because the council doesn't publicise it very well. It makes you wonder how many people aren't getting paid."
SWNS Howard Millington drives his daughter to Norton Fitzwarren every day