School bus driver refused to drop my daughter home

Most of these contracts are to collect and drop to a reasonable place for the pupil to walk or get a lift direct to their home. In rural places it would be unreasonable to expect every farm or outlying cottage to be served by a bus.

The drivers will often take the child direct to home as an obligement. Same with lifting siblings that do not qualify for travel. In unusual circumstances the drivers actions seem reasonable.

Our country is such a joke. A parent can't go into their kids' school without a member of staff with them in case they are a paedo/predator of some kind. And yet it's OK to dump this kid on a random street - where she's probably lost, scared etc and there are any number of randoms on the streets. Shit behaviour from the driver and he knows it.

@RachPelders

Actually my dc's school bus dropped in alternative locations many years, it happens, but within a half a mile of the scheduled stop - all kinds of reasons but road closures most common

Why are people wittering on about his driving hours? He will be sacked for this. It’s totally unacceptable and a safeguarding fail.

Year 9 not 9 year old.

She’s year 9 not age 9. Unless i’m missing something is it that unreasonable in a situation like this she walks 15 mins? Presume she has a key

But nobody has said he was over hours that's something you've created in your own head. Bus drivers take people to France and beyond yet you think he's run out of hours doing the school run. If say he had run out of hours that is not the passengers problem and he needs to ring his boss and arrange another driver

OP I hope you can get some resolution from this. It must have been so distressing for both of you, and with the driver responding like that I would be furious 💐

15 minute drive so presumably 5 miles from home absolute minimum. In the dark. Given the weather conditions in much of the country, possibly in the pouring rain.

13-year-olds are not as mature as some people seem to think. Plenty would struggle to cope in this situation. I think there is a serious argument that the legal duty of care overrides the legal driving hours in this situation.

At age 14 or so I suspect the driver thought it was better than going over hours, he may have done the earlier run and other trips that day meaning that he was running out of hours, even with clear traffic, 15 minutes is 30 minutes extra.

Is it right in an ideal world, no, but i suspect he was in a tricky situation and you don't know what his depot was advising, it might have been them who said to do the alternative route. Get facts then complain to the school who can take it up with the bus contractor

As someone who used to take a private school minibus home from school... I'd talk to the school OP. My minibus was quite informal and odd, and I took it from year 9 (I think) til year 11. I was also the last stop. Sometimes he dropped me slightly away from my rode but within walking distance, and I was always agreeable to that...15 minute drive is quite different but it's not unthinkable? Especially because he knew she could get in touch with you.

One time it was snowing and reportedly the bus driver took the girls about half way home and then they had to walk. I'm not sure if I believe that story, it was a severe snowstorm, but it would have been an hours walk for secondary school girls....

I think you'll need to see what the school thinks. I think at year 9, they're not going to be as concerned as if she was younger, rightly or wrongly, but I can absolutely understand why you are both upset. I hope it never happens again for you.

You do realise school bus drivers do do other driving between times? Quite possible he'd hit his max hours which is a failing of whoever organised his jobs, not of the bus driver.

Such an odd thread - the driver is clearly unreasonable and unprofessional. The excuses around exceeding working hours are non-sensical even if you genuinely believe it to be a valid reason (the contact is with the company not the driver so the company has to provide a driver to transport the children safely. That’s not OPs business).

And the vitriol to a towards a crying child? A child suspected autism? Whatever happened to empathy and kindness?

Is it the school, or a third party provider?
Out of curiosity, is this an independent or a state school?

Well we have no idea what he would have done do we, since it didn't happen. Maybe he would have waited until someone did arrive. Maybe the bus company would have sent a replacement bus? Or paid for a taxi? If the driver was over driving hours, not a lot of other options.

In which case the bus company should then send another driver to meet him and take over.

He was wrong to drop a nine year old child somewhere other than her home, on her own. I'm not surprised she was in tears.

I get that drivers are only supposed to do so many hours but there must be allowance for exceptions. The safety of a child is paramount.

Get in touch with his employer, this is serious on its own, never mind that he was rude to you.

Completely agree.
Such nasty responses from some.
Of course she might be upset and overwhelmed if its dark, she is tired and her mum isn't able to get her, after a long day at school.
They are only back a few weeks and are still tired.
I think this is a huge safeguarding issue and I would be absolutely furious.
The school that you pay is your first pointbof contact and formalise your complaint by email.
I would be very unhappy about this.
Is he properly vetted?
He certainly doesn't sound as if he takes his responsibilities seriously.

You’re allowed to drive something like 8 hours a day, he’s a school bus driver not a long distance lorry driver!

Also, for anyone not aware or who thinks the coach company won't care or whatever...school bus runs are positively fought over by travel companies. They're lucrative, regular and reliable income, being paid for by the LA.

If the driver fucked up, which is by far the most likely situation imo, the company is likely to be furious with him because many LA's would boot them out for such a horrific safeguarding failure.

Safeguarding pure and simple - contact school by phone in the morning and follow up with an email.

I’d be furious about this OP tbh

Not ok for her to be dropped in a random place. Maybe he was dropping her with other kids, but they are not responsible for her. He is.

If he was really out of driving hours (very unlikely for reasons stated, plus as pp says there’s an “emergencies” override clause) then what should have happened is he parks the coach somewhere and waits with her until either a parent or another bus company driver can get there.

Whether she should have cried or not is irrelevant. The point is that an adult driver left a 13 year old girl at the side of the road a 15 minute drive away from where he is paid and - more importantly- entrusted to drop her. Most likely nothing to do with his hours and all to do with him being sick of the traffic and cba to drive an extra 15 min.

People still banging on about hours as if thats a good reason or excuses anything🙄

It doesn't actually even matter how old the child was - 6 or 16 or anywhere in between. It's a SCHOOL bus service. If state school, it will be contracted out and paid for by the LA (and possibly charged to parents). There is no situation where ANY child should ever be dropped off anywhere other than their scheduled stop.

Either one of two entries are at fault here:

• The driver. He fucked up, didn't follow stringent rules or protocols in some way. The coach company are likely to take it very seriously.

• The coach company. The driver was out of allowed hours and the company have no contingency in place. They should be falling over themselves to apologise and change and if they don't then the LA is likely to take the matter very seriously.