Contract coaches, which cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, will not be reviewed as part of a major bus service overhaul.

The coaches which escort St Bede's pupils to and from the Redhill school will not be affected by planned changes outlined by Surrey County Council in its cash-saving exercise.

Last week, Thisissurreytoday reported how five school special buses along with scores of other routes face the axe under the council's plans.

One head teacher, who did not wish to be named, said it was "unfair" because cuts were being made to school special buses but not contract coaches which attend the ecumenical school in Carlton Road.

He said: "It seems like religious discrimination to me."

Surrey County Council subsidise the school's nine coaches which bring 433 pupils to the school from the surrounding areas.

Figures from a Freedom of Information Act, dated January 2008, leaked to the Mirror, show the daily rate of these buses is £1,892.71. The annual fare is current £315 per pupil. Of the 433 children, approximately 380 do not pay for the service.

School head Chris Curtis said pupils using the service live too far away to walk and coaches were the most "environmentally efficient" way of organising transport.

He said: "St Bede's has a significant number of students who live more than three miles away because places here are planned to provide for students across a wide area."

The school head urged parents and students to share their views in the council's consultation, which ends on January 31, 2010.

A Surrey County Council spokeswoman said: "They [contract coaches] are not part of the review because they are not used by the public.

"The school specials are also used by the public."

She said the contract coaches were funded by the education department at the council and not the transport department.

"They are specifically laid on especially for kids who can't pay for the buses or children who are entitled to transport under denominational grounds."