To ask for my child to be put in a different taxi

Our sen school has no more than 3 kids in a taxi with a chaperone. two kids get a chaperone and single kids either on their own or with a chaperone. What your son has experienced is awful and would not happen in our school. They would never have agreed to that transport set up in the first place. Kids are all risk assessed. I am so sorry for what your son has experienced this is appalling and unsafe and they know it. Please report in writing far and wide at school and absolutely do let let your son in a taxi again with those children.

LA is who you contact and the taxi company

itll be council trying to save money on no chaperone and squashing them in, but as others have said it’s for high need kids.

The LA who employs them is responsible though.

I’d be reporting this to the police. How have they got your phone number? This is harassment of you as well as assault of your son.

This is awful OP I’m so sorry for your son. I know it’s not a short term solution but please learn to drive.

It's not the driver's fault, for all those asking what the driver is doing.

The driver is likely a contracted taxi driver, and many of such drivers around here doing school transport speak very little English. They're drivers, not teachers or school staff.

Report the problem and ask that he goes in the font passenger seat away from them. The other kids need reprimanding, possibly even suspending.

Definitely report to the school.
This is a very serious issue.

Gavin at SENTAS is a good person to check in with. He knows everything! Am sure he will have heard all this before and have a good way to deal with this nonsense. I am sorry. I know exactly how you feel and it's horrible.

Absolutely nothing was done with my son ,and he had a nervous breakdown and had to leave the school.
I really hope you get something done to help your son xx

This is why I just drive my son to and from school. I don’t trust taxis and chaperones - too many bad experiences. It makes life hard though in terms of employment.

Not uncommon unfortunately
My son had the same age 11
Taxi driver was actively encouraging the fighting
No chaperone because they like to squash as many kids in as possible

Definitely should be a chaperone the driver can’t be expected to manage behaviour of children who are already have behaviour difficulty

No chaperone is a safeguarding issue. For pupils and the driver.

This whole set up is unacceptable.

Contact school, lea transport and at least threaten police.

I hope he's okay.

What the hell is the driver doing? My kids get taxis to school and after the first incident, the driver would have spoken with the school and the taxi office would have reported badly of the council and then refused to drive those kids until the council agreed to contact a second taxi. They’re really hot on safety of the kids in the car as well as the safety of the driver being able to do the run without distraction and worry like that.

Report the assault to the police. This is horrendous.

Hope your DS is ok, that's absolutely disgusting behavior.

I'd report it to the police. I reported another child throwing a water bottle at my child's (also ASD) head, I would definitely report in your situation.

Then if they refuse to send a separate taxi, they need to send a bigger vehicle, e.g. a 7 seater, so the chaperone can fit. Nearly every taxi company has at least one 7 seater and they usually cost the same as a 5 seater.

Report to LA, school and transport company. This is a safeguarding issue.We had similar. Assistant sits between DS and girl who caused trouble. She sprayed deoderant in his eyes etc. I took it very seriously.

Yes ask, my son has SEN school transport run by the council via a private taxi firm (also no chaperone). I spoke to the taxi driver as my son was the first pick up, he said to call his boss(he already had told his boss). Taxi boss had already reported to the council, council then phoned me and sorted a separate taxi within 2 days.

I feel bad I let my son be subjected to low level bullying for too long, I was surprised how helpful the council were.

The school in my case had no say in transport.

He’s been assaulted had possessions taken and soiled been threatened with violence and sexual assault…he doesn’t get back in the taxi and you call the police. Do NOT underestimate what this could and may already have escalated to. Do NOT rely on school to sort it out.

Chaperones are usually put in if a child has medical needs or needs extra support due to their high needs.

Can you also get the taxi driver to support what's happened? He can't be thrilled with all this happening whilst he is driving.

Did you get a photo of how your child.arrived home and his pumpkin.

Go to the school in person if they've not replied by tomorrow or phone them.

Wow - the children who are behaving appallingly should be removed from the transport.

I get send but what they are doing is bullying and that's not on.

I'm so sorry your ds is suffering that trauma.

I work in an SEN school in SW London and my advice would be to contact your child’s form tutor and the safeguarding lead also, as the head teacher would more than likely pass this on to them to action and support you with - and your son can also get more support on site.

I’m also shocked that there’s no chaperone with that ratio of children but as a previous poster said it’s unlikely they would do 1:1 transport (we’ve only ever achieved it a handful of times as a school and that’s through endless chasing, phone calls and support from our DSL)

Are you in London? My school takes in a lot of pupils from Surrey, Wandsworth, Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow etc and I’d say Hounslow and Wandsworth are the absolute worst for dealing with transport issues!!

I hope your son is okay x