CHEPSTOW protesters took their fight to Monmouthshire County Hall on Thursday, in a bid to save a school bus service in the town.

An unprecedented thirty minute adjournment took place during the full council meeting, after protesters sitting in the public gallery aired their discontent.

Peter Fox cabinet minister for Lifelong Learning and Leisure and newly appointed deputy leader of the council faced the brunt of the protesters' fury, as they regularly booed and hissed his every word.

Chepstow town councillor Tom Kirton, who was amongst the protesters said: "I think it is good that we are taking our fight to the next level and that these people hear our grievances.

"This is the logical next step for us to have taken to try and save the bus route and councillors who are put in a position of power should be held accountable to the people who put them there in the first place."

The protesters are angry that a free bus service provided by the council from Bulwark to Chepstow Comprehensive school in Welsh Street has been stopped after Monmouthshire County Council decided the previously unsafe walking route to school is now safe enough to use.

Dave Bligh is chairman of the protest group BUS. His daughters Chelsea, 12, and Chloe, 11, used the bus service.

He said: "This protest has been another great turn-out to support our cause. I recognise that the parents and children did have other commitments today, but instead they have come here to protest.

"It is great to see the level of interest everybody is showing and today we have the hard-core following of our movement. We want to show the people who are making the important decisions our frustrations and make them realise the effect their decisions have on us."

Jonathan Rogers parent of Declan 14 and Siobhan 11 who attend Chepstow Comprehensive, had an angry confrontation with the chairman of Monmouthshire County Council Val Smith during the adjournment of the meeting. In the middle of their heated exchange he said: "People we believe have an influence in this decision have decided to go away and that is where our frustration has come from.

"What we are concerned about is the safety of our children and friends who are going to be walking the route.

"How will we and also how will you feel if somebody gets seriously hurt walking it. We are not being given the chance to be heard and that is where our anger stems from."

An appeals panel will meet on April 28 to discuss the future of the bus service. Cllr Fox says the panel, which has yet to be appointed, will include independent members who have no involvement with the issues.