to expect school to take seriously the theft of my sons scooter

[clair247]

My son (aged 4) likes to ride his scooter to school, then I carry it home. It's a brand new fairly expensive scooter, his main Xmas present this year. On Tuesday morning, I left it outside the class room while I helped him sort all his stuff out, which admittedly takes a while. When I left, it had gone & as yet no trace. This is a secure area for 4/5 year olds....I'm shocked, school have barely blinked! What to do now???

Oh clair - how horrible for your poor son - bless him, he must have been so upset. Can you claim for it on insurance? I suspect the school have one of those "property is left at own risk" type policies and if it wasn't locked up then they may feel they have no responsibility.

Do they have any CCTV which might pick up the theft?

Was it a common type of scooter? Round here every other small boy has a blue mini-micro and I have both taken someone else's home and had someone else take ds's by mistake. It's not impossible that some other mum picked up yours absent-mindedly, thinking that she had brought it with her.

So I'd suggest putting a couple of notices up around the area asking if someone took it by mistake.

If nobody brings it in by Monday then take it further but the next step is contacting the police I imagine. What would you like the school to do?

You could maybe ask the school to put a note in their newsletter asking if anyone has stolen accidentally taken home your scooter, but unless they do have CCTV, I can't see what else they could do?

No CCTV and I'm not insured. You're probably right and I'm not suprised about the liability. I'm just really dissapointed that it warrants no action from the school, I'm going back 30 years, but a theft within our school would see us all dragged quivering before the headmaster! Guess I've had a rude awakenging.

Was it clearly marked with his name? If so, you may get it handed back by an embarrassed parent, or you may spot your stolen scooter and be able to claim it back.
Some people are very light-fingered.

But it's not likely that it was taken by a child at the school, is it - because they would all have been going in to school.So having a go at the kids wouldn't really be useful, or fair. If it was stolen, it would either have been a parent/carer, or, if it was visible from the road, an opportunist passer-by.

Well it obviously was a patent or younger sibling who took it. Not a thing the school can do...... What would you like them to do?

The school is not responsible for your property, especially if it's left unsecured. But it's probably not unreasonable for them to give you access to any CCTV footage of the time/place, or to circulate a notice about it if you ask them to.

I do feel for your son though - what a bummer.

Thing about scooters is one looks just like another, and no one ever locks them up so they must be pretty easy to steal if you are that way inclined.

No, it's not a common one...I haven't ever seen another one around. I've put a notice up and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's a 'mistake' & it returns. As far as school go's....like the idea of it being in the news letter but judging by the in-difference they've shown so far, doubt they'll put the effort in. Thanks for all your advice.