This has a long history. He "gets bogged down in his work" and "doesn't notice the time." He left the children on their own at the swimming pool when they were 4 and 6 after their lesson and forgot to collect them. When I realised he hadn't picked them up, I flew off to get them, by which time they had been there on their own for two hours.
Fast forward a few years, to the after school club. He worked 5 minutes from the school, and just got later and later, after the 6.00 deadline to collect them. "Oh they were fine about it/they didn't mind" he said. We then got the bill for enforcement of late fees - 5 pounds for every five minutes. Bill of over 400 pounds late fees in one month. I insisted this should come out of his account, in the hope that it would hit him where it hurt. And it did. He got a lot better after that.
Last week, he called me at 6.45. He was supposed to have been home at 4.15 when the DDs got home. He had just remembered. Fortunately we had a lovely houseguest staying, and she was there and let them in. But it shouldn't have been for her to do this.
He works from home most of the time, but when he goes into the office, he can't have his mobile on, and hotdesks, so I never know his number. So basically, I can't get hold of him, unless I email him, and it's hit and miss if he reads the email. I also don't think a grown man should be told "please remember to collect the girls from the school bus."
I am getting increasingly fed up with this. I don't feel that I can trust him to collect the girls on time (we have also had a couple of occasions when the bus driver has had to wait until I one of us get to the bus because he is running late. I just want him to take a bit more responsibility. Any ideas how? The DDs are now 12 and 10 - I could give DD1 a key, but she often comes home on a later bus than DD2, so that wouldn't solve the problem entirely.