S, R (on the application of) v Education (Waltham Forest)

Facts

The claimant, referred to as W, is a severely autistic child aged 16 who brought judicial review proceedings by his father, Mr S, a solicitor acting in person, as his litigation friend. Whitefield School in Walthamstow, a school for children with special educational needs which W had attended since he was five, removed him from its roll in the summer of 2005; his placement there was confirmed by a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal in May 2006, though he had not in fact returned. Until July 2005 the defendants — the London Borough of Waltham Forest and EduAction (Waltham Forest), the company contractually responsible for discharging its functions — had provided W with transport to school, latterly a specially adapted minibus with two escorts. Letters of 15 and 21 June 2006 indicated that transport would continue, and a letter of 8 August 2006 was intended to offer shared transport. By letter of 31 August 2006, however, the defendants offered only "transport assistance": a mileage allowance of £6.12 per day to cover the fuel cost of Mrs S driving W to and from school. Mr and Mrs S appealed to the defendants' non-statutory Transport Appeals Panel, which upheld the decision on 19 September 2006 without a hearing. Permission to apply for judicial review was granted by Dobbs J on 25 October 2006.