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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be furious with school bus driver

190 replies

WashingLion · 26/02/2013 19:13

For taking my 5year old off the bus and leaving her, alone by a busy main road, because the childminder was 5 minutes late.

And then to be furious with the bus company for denying all responsibility (this is a school bus).

The childminder is very responsible but was held up in traffic. My daughter was found wandering down the road by a (luckily) kindly stranger who asked her where I work and managed to track me down.

OP posts:
WannabeWilloughby · 27/02/2013 15:50

Haven't read all of the posts, but yanbu. I can't even begin to think of what could have happened to your DD.

Hope she is ok.

pigletmania · 27/02/2013 15:58

Cumfy whatever arrangement are the bus driver should ever have allowed a 5 year old off the bus without her designated adult!

cumfy · 27/02/2013 16:00

Absolutely piglet, sack the driver or the bus co.

pigletmania · 27/02/2013 16:10

I used to work in a day centre for adults with learning disabilities and the vulnerable adult always had to be dropped off to a designated adult at their home. If nobody was home we would contact their career or take them back to the centre until somebody came to collect them. We would never leave them alone

Original poster
WashingLion · 27/02/2013 16:21

Cumfy, unfortunately, there is a serious lack of childminders in this area and all existing childminders have no more capacity. There is no after school club apart from the odd hour doing sports, so it is a real juggling act for working parents.

OP posts:
IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 27/02/2013 17:31

This is fucking awful! Your poor DD!

And to those saying the childminder was at fault also, how early do you want her toleave incase something happens?!

I leave at 230 to be at the school for 3 for when they come out at 310...Monday I left at 145 to allow enough time to nip to the shop next door...due to shocking traffic I got to the school at 340...this wasn't my fault, its just one of those things

Aside from setting up camp in the playground immediately after drop off, I'm not entirely sure what else we should do?!

BobbyDarin · 27/02/2013 17:53

That is absolutely disgraceful. Push the police to arrest this moron because he should never work with children again.

fuckwittery · 27/02/2013 20:41

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tiggyhop · 27/02/2013 20:46

Thank goodness for the nice person who helped your DD. I am so depressed when people don't help out - remember that awful tragedy when the 3 year old wandered out of nursery and a man saw her but didn't do anything because he was worried about being accused of abducting her and she drowned in the village pond - awful.

user12785 · 28/02/2013 17:56

Bump - what happened next? Please tell me the bus driver has been suspended...

SocialClimber · 28/02/2013 18:17

I am another who would be livid at the CM. At what point, when she realised she was going to be late, did she ring you? Your daughter had to find a complete stranger and you were contacted that way. I am hoping she did ring you at least, and you left out that detail.

My children go on a bus two days a week. Luckily they are on there with the two children of my childminder, so if for some reason she is late, they would be together. In the event she couldn't make it in an emergency, she has a back up plan. No way would I accept my child being left on the side of a road because of traffic. TRAFFIC FFS.

I would find a CM who was close by and not reliant on whether the traffic was bad. I appreciate I'm lucky that the CM lives round the corner and CMs are hard to come by but this is just not acceptable. You must be frantic, OP, at the thought of your daughter alone.

Yes the bus driver was culpable too. I hope he is dealt with.

Original poster
WashingLion · 28/02/2013 18:27

The driver has been stopped from driving school buses whilst the incident is being investigated. The school has written a strong letter to the bus company, copied to the council, to insist that policies are put in place to prevent this happening again. We will hopefully be kept in the loop. I'm shocked that there weren't any policies in the first place and am feeling a bit paranoid about going to work now (have just had 2 days off). Thinking I must also get DD a pay as you go phone with mine and DH's numbers on it.

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 28/02/2013 18:31

That is a very good result at this point in the process, WashingLion.

Goldmandra · 28/02/2013 19:04

Thinking I must also get DD a pay as you go phone with mine and DH's numbers on it.

You can get very simple phones designed for children and people who struggle with the complexities of mobiles. Our local Tesco has a good selection and we got a very good one for MIL from there which has a panic button on. It automatically calls a list of numbers until someone answers.

However you are risking any phone getting stolen or not being charged in the unlikely event that it is needed. You might be better of simply telling your DD that if the childminder is not there she must not get off the bus.

I think it is highly unlikely that the same bus company will allow this to happen again after they have had a rocket put under them and policies are in place.
In fact your DD is probably now one of the safer children on school transport for the foreseeable future.

soverylucky · 28/02/2013 19:17

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hesterton · 28/02/2013 19:20

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CheerfulYank · 28/02/2013 19:22

If the OP believed the policy was that the driver would take non-picked up DC back to the depot and contact parents, presumably the cm thought that too?

I'd be furious. When I worked at a day care a bus dropped two 5/6 year olds off at the wrong childcare despite them saying it wasn't where they were supposed to be. They were over a mile away and started walking in the general direction. The worker at our center realized they weren't where they were supposed to be and was calling around while someone else went to look for them.

One of the boys' mother was a very take-charge frightening type of person, and the bollocking she gave the bus driver was delightful to behold. :) She followed him the next day in her car to make sure there were no further problems.

cumfy · 28/02/2013 19:37

I'm glad something is happening.

Did you see the driver on your days off ?

Original poster
WashingLion · 28/02/2013 20:13

Cumfy -yes, it's a rural area. There are other village schools slightly nearer but in different catchment areas and all oversubscribed. We have no school in our village.

OP posts:
Roseformeplease · 28/02/2013 21:16

This story is terrible and I am so glad your DD is OK and hope your heart has stopped racing and you can breathe again.

Why the snide remark about the school being 6 miles away? Rural schools can be much further. Also, does it matter if the OP wants to bus her child 100 miles - you don't dump a 5 year old at the side of a road?

fuckwittery · 28/02/2013 22:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fuckwittery · 28/02/2013 22:53

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GW297 · 28/02/2013 23:00

Contact your kcal paper or local news?

buildingmycorestrength · 01/03/2013 00:06

Start a mums net campaign! Contact our MPs! Should be s tandard nationwide.

buildingmycorestrength · 03/03/2013 10:35

I am actually going to write to my MP about this. I don't even live in your area but I know kids who travel to school by school bus and it horrifies me to think that this is possible.