A campaign group has been revived and a petition started after children living in Claygate missed out on places at nearby schools.

Claygate Class Action, set up in 2009 after similar problems, has been campaigning after Surrey County Council failed to offer pupils places at Esher Church of England High School, while Hinchley Wood School is an academy, setting its own admission criteria.

More than 1,000 people signed the petition for urgent action at the weekend and the group hope to get more than 3,000 in total.

Claire Denton-Statham, the group’s chairwoman, said her daughter at Claygate Primary School was offered a place at Epsom and Ewell High School – a distance of four miles by car, but a 70 to 90-minute journey on public transport.

Ms Denton-Statham, who works and has a younger daughter to take to school, said her eldest would have to take two buses to get to and from school.

She said: “For an 11-year-old girl to go all that way in the winter months, I would not do it. I do not know how they can expect children to do that. It is really unfair.”

Since 2009, secondary schools are more oversubscribed due to increased pupil numbers, leading to ever-smaller catchment areas.

Claygate Class Action said one in five pupils at Claygate Primary School failed to get any of their six preferred schools.

Of the 56 pupils in year 6, 14 were offered places at Hinchley Wood School, but most of those have a sibling there.

Department for Education figures published in March revealed that only 50 per cent of children at Claygate Primary School were offered their first preference school, rising to 84.9 per cent Surrey-wide.

Hinchley Wood prioritises children in care, children with special medical requirements, children with siblings and children within its catchment area, which only covers half of Claygate.

Ms Denton-Statham, of Covert Road, who planned to appeal her daughter’s offer, said: “I pay a premium so my kids can go to a nice local school. If you pay for one to go private, you have to pay for all of them to go there. It is not ideal at all.”

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: “A number of the Claygate parents who did not get one of their preferences only applied for two schools, Hinchley Wood and Esher High, both of which have individual catchment areas, making it effectively an application to one school only.

“And if a school is oversubscribed it is inevitable some parents will be disappointed.

“We are aiming to expand Esher High from 2015, but Hinchley Wood is an academy deciding its own admission arrangements. We will liaise with them to ensure their catchment areas are fair to all parents.”

Steve Poole, headteacher at Hinchley Wood School, said: “I understand parents’ frustration at not being offered the school place of their choice but unfortunately there is no room for expansion at Hinchley Wood.”

The petition is available in shops on the Parade and pubs in Claygate and will be online after the elections on Friday.