Next on Reform's hit list? Free journeys to school for disabled children like mine

Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including me, are going to “bankrupt” councils across the country.

- By JAMES MOORE

Spending on home-to-school transport is on course to cost £2bn a year - and, according to Reform UK's deputy leader, Richard Tice, it's partly because parents are too lazy to drop off their own kids, and are "using and abusing" the system. Rest assured, his party is going to be "digging into" the problem.

As someone who's been mired in this world for much of the past decade - my child has autism and associated mental health issues — this isn't the first time such claims have been made.

In fact, parents of SEND kids are well accustomed to the mudslinging. But I have one thing to say to Tice and the like: we've never asked for complimentary cabs. What we actually want is meaningful government support.

As a family, our requests are relatively modest and simple - as much as anything is simple when dealing with disability - and they have been from the get-go. We had a very clear diagnosis of autism (which, contrary to popular belief, is far from easy to secure), and we also had the full support of the school (which is quite rare, believe me). Our local council, nonetheless, threw everything our way to make it as difficult as possible.