School bus driver refused to drop my daughter home

Yeah and like I said this happens with my kids with their private school bus.

Obviously some people are determined to get worked up about it and talk about tales of 'slaughter' so I'll leave you to it but if you aren't teaching your teenagers about keeping calm and dealing with the unexpected now you might want to think about when you will start teaching them.

I do pay for the bus. Private bus companies don't tend to pick kids up out of the goodness of their hearts(not that I know of anyway).

you haven't got the first clue what you are talking about, so maybe just zip it?

Except I live in the countryside right now, where almost all the kids get buses to school, many of which are private services This happens & not all teenagers panic & cry. I do know what I'm talking about. HtH.

It wasn't public transport; it was a designated school run and the driver is responsible for the children on the bus until they are dropped off at the location they are supposed to be dropped off at. This is a safeguarding concern and imo very serious!

I am confused as to how its a safeguarding issue. All the teenagers in our village who get private school buses are not met at the stop by an adult. They often walk another mile or so home from the stop, by themselves. This is because its generally considered acceptable for secondary aged children to be out and about without parents. She was with other kids, her mum had been notified of the need to collect her. He's just a bus driver. He doesn't have parental responsibility for a 14 year old. When shit goes a bit wrong with transport its up to the parents ~who chose a school miles from home~ to collect their kids, not other people.

If your DC got the train to school and there was a signal failure the train driver wouldn't ring all the parents and wait with teenagers. They'd have to ring their parents and wait around until a lift appeared, or ring a cab, or get a bus instead.

This isn't a little child.

Its a teenager.

Can't believe all the replies on here.
It's completely unacceptable for the bus driver to terminate the route early/take a completely different route and miss out stops and drop a child (yes 13 and 14 year olds are still children) at a stop 15 minutes drive from the stop she was supposed to be dropped off at.

This literally does happen with school buses. Private school transport too.

Sometimes its late
On occasion it doesn't turn up.
Sometimes there's a problem and kids have to get off the bus not in the normal place.

Why do we default assume the bus driver is some kind of arsehole who does this out of sheer laziness?

Clearly he'd run late (not his fault) and had somewhere else he was supposed to be/couldnt drive further. If it was due to traffic it may have been unpredictable and impossible to plan for. Secondary aged children often get public buses and trains to school and are expected to be able to handle it if it goes awry.

It's because my children get a private bus service to and from school that I would be chill about it. I've had 5 years of it now and everything does not always work as it should so having your kids prepared for that is important. Make sure they always have their phone so they can contact you,make sure you are always contactable at the the times you know they are supposed to be on the bus. Stay calm if something crops up your kid will take the lead from you. A quick aw that sucks, wait there/walk to nearby shop/whatever and I'll be with you as soon as I can,

My experience is that shit happens with school buses. On Monday for instance the kids bus just didn't show up, they were 20mins walk from home(where they are supposed to catch the bus), I was about 20mins drive away on my way to work. They rang me when the bus was about 20mins late, I had to turn back, get them, drive 30mins in the opposite direction to my work to drop them to school. They were late, I was late, bus company sent a text at about 1 that day saying that the return bus would be running as usual, no reasons given for the lack of bus in the morning. There was no exploding. No crying. No cross words exchanged. It's a long time to the end of school and if you rely on the bus(and they can refuse to have your child on in future) calm heads all around are needed.

@artictern particularly odd when the blame is placed on the child rather than the adult getting paid to do a job. Do the posters do it because they are bored & want to be contrary or do they lack intelligence? I’m never sure tbh!

And if the contracted stop is there and he missed it I was wrong and I apologise. However I'm fairly confident the actual bus contract will be a pick up point, not actually the OP's home.

As a PP said, I'd check the OP all the facts before making a scene, or she could find herself doing a drive to and from a pick-up point for the next 4 plus years.

Yup, that's why its so important that parents model calm behaviour. My teens often get public transport to the nearest city and it's so important that they know that if something goes wrong it's fine. It can be sorted. You can't let them get to a point where they are afraid to do things by themselves in case something goes wrong or if something does go wrong not only have you got to fix the problem you've got to deal with a panicked kid too.

Nothing bad happened. Op was there to collect the kid. A little talk afterwards about what to do if it happens again is all that is needed.

I am confused as to how its a safeguarding issue. All the teenagers in our village who get private school buses are not met at the stop by an adult. They often walk another mile or so home from the stop, by themselves. This is because its generally considered acceptable for secondary aged children to be out and about without parents. She was with other kids, her mum had been notified of the need to collect her. He's just a bus driver. He doesn't have parental responsibility for a 14 year old. When shit goes a bit wrong with transport its up to the parents ~who chose a school miles from home~ to collect their kids, not other people.

If your DC got the train to school and there was a signal failure the train driver wouldn't ring all the parents and wait with teenagers. They'd have to ring their parents and wait around until a lift appeared, or ring a cab, or get a bus instead.

Come on - I am a grown adult and i would panic if I was dropped a 2hr walk away from my home and expected to walk along roads with no paths with 60mph traffic, in the dark! It’s very normal this would upset a child

Bloody hell do you not get out much?

No one said she had to walk. She's a teenager. She just had to wait at a bus stop there with friends until a lift got sorted.

At exactly this age i got stuck at manchester bus station at 10pm. A coach driver just left me there, having not told me the connecting bus (by same company on one ticket) was meant to get to a relatives house wasnt running. I had to wait 45 mins for a lift. I didn't panic & lose my shit!!

Send him the true story of Daniel Moreombe. A 13 year old boy slaughtered by a pedo because the bus driver was in a hurry and didn't stop to pick him up. Child safety trumps any argument.

www.sbs.com.au/news/article/bus-shouldve-stopped-for-daniel-witness/66i9xnqae

Come on - I am a grown adult and i would panic if I was dropped a 2hr walk away from my home and expected to walk along roads with no paths with 60mph traffic, in the dark! It’s very normal this would upset a child

Bloody hell do you not get out much?

No one said she had to walk. She's a teenager. She just had to wait at a bus stop there with friends until a lift got sorted.

At exactly this age i got stuck at manchester bus station at 10pm. A coach driver just left me there, having not told me the connecting bus (by same company on one ticket) was meant to get to a relatives house wasnt running. I had to wait 45 mins for a lift. I didn't panic & lose my shit!!

@UpendedPineapple imagine that being the way to make yourself feel better about your lot, tragic.

Its very difficult.

What if the bus driver has a child of their own and is already very late to collect them and they are waiting somewhere for him, also at risk of harm? What if he has caring responsibilities to get home for?

Does the bus driver know your DC has autism? You may find that if she can't cope with this sort of transport mishap that most other teenagers would be able to handle, due to her autism, that you will have to have more contingency plans & special arrangements in place for her.

Come on - I am a grown adult and i would panic if I was dropped a 2hr walk away from my home and expected to walk along roads with no paths with 60mph traffic, in the dark! It’s very normal this would upset a child

Bloody hell do you not get out much?

No one said she had to walk. She's a teenager. She just had to wait at a bus stop there with friends until a lift got sorted.

At exactly this age i got stuck at manchester bus station at 10pm. A coach driver just left me there, having not told me the connecting bus (by same company on one ticket) was meant to get to a relatives house wasnt running. I had to wait 45 mins for a lift. I didn't panic & lose my shit!!