MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Schoolchildren were among commuters left stranded following a roadblock and withdrawal of service by taxi operators over deplorable road conditions in Mile Gully, Manchester on Monday morning.

Principal of Mile Gully High Christopher Tyme said only a small percentage of his students turned up for school due to the protest.

“Over 70 per cent of my children are not at school. The students who were in the town of Mandeville I sent them back home. Only half of the staff is at school to secure the 220 children who are here,” he said.

“We have advised the parents to collect their children,” he added.

He said the taxi operators are demanding that the main road be repaired.

“The hauling of the bauxite and the promise that the road would have been repaired, so that has not taken place and the taxi operators are very upset about it. The trucking is taking place and the road is deteriorating, so they want the road fixed,” he said.

READ: Phillips renews call for bauxite haul road near Mile Gully