Seat belts on school trip

[theveg]

My ds in y6 is currently on a school trip, residential, travelling a long way by coach. The school are tweeting pictures and videos of the journey. They have just tweeted one of all the kids singing, lots of them are standing up in the coach and others who are seated are not wearing seatbelts.

Am I missing something here? I can't actually see ds in the pic so can't see if he had his on. They aren't allowed their phones so I can't tell him. Wwyd? Contact the teachers? I have checked and apparently it is not a legal requirement to wear one unless you are at the front but is strongly advised.

Maybe the coach was stationary when the picture was taken.

It's a video, and you can see that it is driving along the motorway .

I don't know if it's the law but when I was teaching we had to have them all in seat belts. There is no way I would have allowed a child to leave their seat or stand up while on the move. Are you sure they are moving and not parked up? If they are getting up while travelling I would have a word with the Head Teacher.

As part of the risk assessment a teacher should have checked at the start of the journey that all children were wearing their seatbelt. Standing up while the coach is in motion should not be allowed.

Do you know whether the coach has seatbelts fitted? If so, they should be using them and staff should be enforcing this.

I would be concerned. A friend of my former boss was in a terrible coach crash, he survived because he had his seat belt on. He told everyone about his experience so as to raise awareness of putting your belt on in coaches.

I can see another photo taken from the front of the bus with a child wearing a three point seatbelt so it does have them.

Screenshot the tweet, that way they can’t pretend it didn’t happen when you complain.

It would be pretty unheard of now for a bus used for school kids not to have seatbelts and it would be in the risk assessment that they should be enforced. For all you know op, two seconds after the video was taken there will have been a member of staff risking their own safety by walking down the aisle and sorting it out. Its not safe to stop on the hard shoulder unless for emergency - they might get a bollocking at the next available stop.

Yes but if they are enforcing the rule, why post the video on Twitter of the rule being flouted? I actually am a teacher and run my school's Twitter account, and I would not tweet images or videos of pupils defying rules.....I have also accompanied older students on residential trips and as PP have said, risk assessments state seatbelts should be worn.

Way I see it my kids will soon be doing far more dangerous things that are completely outside my control. Might as well try to get used to the idea.

Kids might be doing dangerous things out of parental view but it shouldn't be on a coach supervised by teachers.

Such a bizarre attitude to safety