A COUPLE are refusing to send their daughter to school because they fear for her safety.

Andrew and Bridget Craven, of Geneva Terrace, Darlington, are keeping their daughter, Melissa, 11, at home until a dispute with the education authority is resolved.

The couple put down three preferred schools before the summer for their daughter to attend - Hummersknott, Hurworth and Longfield comprehensives.

They were turned down for all three, but the Cravens missed the subsequent appeals in June because they were on holiday in Ibiza.

Mr Craven, 32, a product handler at Mastercare, Newton Aycliffe, said: "I told them there was no way we could go because we were on holiday.

"She has been offered a place at Eastbourne, but two of the other schools have school buses and for Longfield there is a bus which stops outside the house.

"I think it is dangerous for her to walk from our house to Eastbourne by herself. She would have to go under a tunnel which isn't lit and cross over a couple of major roads."

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said the couple had the chance to attend appeals for their choice of schools on four separate dates in June.

"We do everything we can to accommodate parents' wishes as to when appeals are heard. We have also offered them three alternative schools - Branksome, Eastbourne and Haughton," she said.