IT IS a farce. But not funny.

For the bizarre business of mature Blackburn student Ismail Patel being chauffeured once a week to and from college in Ormskirk on a 57-seater bus all by himself is a ludicrous waste of public money.

Why should taxpayers fork out for this extravagance?

Even Mr Patel is perplexed.

And goodness knows what the bus driver thinks of the set-up - as he sits all day outside the college waiting for his lone passenger to finish his studies.

This nonsense is not down to the bus company. It is the college's responsibility as it hires the bus.

But the public pays the £60 for it - via their contributions to the European Social Fund which subsidises Mr Patel's course.

It is no use the college pleading that it made a commitment to provide transport for students from Blackburn and that now Mr Patel is the only one availing himself of it.

For the fact remains that it is a ridiculous excess.

The college managers should find a cheaper, saner alternative - and should have done so long since.

It is also worth pondering what the European bureaucrats think of all this. Do they even know?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.