Hammersmith Bridge closure sees children caught up in three-hour school runs

Thousands of west London pupils are being forced to spend up to three hours on “nightmare” commutes to schools that they could previously walk to in minutes.

Hammersmith Bridge was used by an estimated 4,000 students a day as their route to school before it was shut to pedestrians last month because of safety fears over widening cracks in the cast-iron structure.

Now children at schools such as St Paul’s and Harrodian in Barnes and West London Free School and Sacred Heart in Hammersmith are having to battle through heavily congested roads in cars or buses or make long cycle rides along the towpath and over Putney or Barnes bridges.

There are growing concerns about the safety of children after the clocks go back an hour next month and the journeys are made in the dark. One mother described her child’s new ordeal as a “total nightmare”.

St Paul’s School in Barnes said: “With 66 per cent or about 900 pupils coming from over the river the full closure of the bridge has been hugely challenging and we are aware of the impact it is having on our community.

“Staff have rallied to put on buses to get pupils here but we really need a co-ordinated solution fast. We are happy to co-operate in any way to bring about both a short-term and long-term solution.

"We have offered a piece of our land for a temporary bridge and are willing to support in any feasible way that is proposed to us. What would be helpful would be the laying out of a clear road map of next steps.”

Rachel Snaith, of the Harrodian school in Barnes, said about 400 pupils crossed the bridge each day.