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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:
buildingmycorestrength · 03/03/2013 10:46

Ok, my letter to my MP states this - feel free to copy and paste (with appropriate edits - name of MP, county council, link to transport policy) and send to your MP.

To the Rt Hon etc etc

I am writing to express my concern about school bus procedures. After an incident which was written about on Mumsnet, in which a school bus driver asked a 5 year old child to get off the bus when no one was there to collect her, it transpires that no local authority in the country has a school bus policy which sets out the correct procedure in this instance.

The relevant thread on Mumsnet is here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1693624-To-be-furious-with-school-bus-driver

I note that the xxx County Council policy does not provide information on procedures if a child has no one to collect them.

(find link and provide)

Obviously I would hope that you would take this seriously as a local matter and address it promptly.

However, I write to you in your capacity as MP because I believe this is a nationwide problem which could be relatively easily resolved by requiring local authorities to state the appropriate procedure should no one be present to collect the child (e.g. drivers should have emergency phone numbers, drivers should keep the child on the bus).

This is a child safety matter and should be treated as such.

Yours sincerely,

etc etc

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/03/2013 12:29

Excellent email, buildingmycorestrength!

buildingmycorestrength · 03/03/2013 13:24

Why, thank you!

Go on, write to yours!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/03/2013 14:13

I will do - I will check next week whether Scottish councils have a policy or not, and write to my MP if neccessary.

AgentProvocateur · 03/03/2013 14:49

Hello, SDTG!

I think that very few Scottish councils provide buses (other than in Highlands and Islands, for example). They're more likely to provide a bus pass for a service bus or a taxi. See here from Glasgow's site:

he City of Glasgow does not operate any travel arrangements such as school buses for children at school in Glasgow. The purpose of the catchment area system is to ensure that children and their families live relatively close to their school. For children who live more than three miles away from their school, the Council may provide free bus passes.

Where I live, it's common to see young children get on and off the regular bus. Obviously the bus driver has got no responsibility once they've left the bus.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/03/2013 14:54

I am pretty sure that there is a dedicated bus for the primary school children in our village - I will have to check the website.

CommanderShepard · 03/03/2013 16:14

Get the Oxford Mail on this and write to Andrew Smith/Ed Vaizey/Call Me Dave/John Howell/Nicola Blackwood - whichever one represents you. Actually just write to them all.

I've borrowed parts of building's email and written to Andrew Smith.

Lockedout434 · 03/03/2013 16:16

How anyone could have done that is incredible

RobotHamster · 03/03/2013 16:19

Cameron is the MP in West Oxfordshire too - couldn't hurt to fling an email that way.

Original poster
WashingLion · 03/03/2013 19:12

Writing to MPs on this is a very good idea. I am amazed at the lack of policy/protocol around this, particularly as it concerns children and it doesn't take much imagination to see what could go wrong if young children are abandoned at the side of the road! I hope to hear back from the council this week (if I don't, I will be in touch with them) and I will post the outcome.

OP posts:
LucieLucie · 03/03/2013 20:23

I am sorry to hear your daughter was uncollected after getting off the bus but my opinion on this is that ultimately it was your childminders responsibility to collect her. She was late which caused the upset.

Presumably if she was stuck in heavy traffic she should have phoned the school immediately and asked for a message to be passed to the driver to keep her on the bus. Lack of communication.

The child may have got off with other kids and driver never realised no one was there to collect her. However, I agree a shaperone should be on the bus.

When I was wee it was the parents who had a rota for the nursery bus and made sure kids were safe.
Changed days.

Original poster
WashingLion · 03/03/2013 20:34

LucieLucie, it was indeed my childminder's responsibility to collect her. She should not have been late.

However, the bus driver did not know she was late. He had no idea what had happened. Imagine that she had been in an accident and unable to phone. Or that a child's mother was in an accident on their way to collect at the bus stop. Unconscious, not able to phone. This is the issue. The bus driver did not know that someone would turn up 5 minutes later. You don't leave a little kid by themselves. End of.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 03/03/2013 20:36

Well said Washing.

AgentProvocateur · 03/03/2013 20:59

Will the childminder review her procedures? Does she know what to do if she'll be late again?

Maryz · 03/03/2013 21:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/03/2013 21:31

In my opinion, the bus driver was responsible for the children's safety, until he handed them over to whichever adult was picking them up from the bus stop. This one didn't - to quote the OP, he took her off the bus and left her alone, beside a busy road.

In this kind of arrangement, everyone involved needs proper procedures in place to deal with situations like this, and these need to be joined-up, if you see what I mean. The LEA, school and parents all need to know who to contact when a problem arises, and what each person's responsibility is, when a problem arises. One policy that everyone understands and uses.

Sparklingbrook · 03/03/2013 21:34

Yes, to me it's the same as the childminder being a bit late to school to pick the child up. The school wouldn't kick them out if the door and leave them outside.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/03/2013 21:36

I pressed post too soon - what I meant to say was, in the OP's circumstance, if a proper policy had been in place, either the child minder would have phoned the driver (or whoever was responsible for coordination) and rearranged a drop off with the driver, or, in the absence of any communication from the childminder, the driver would have rung the coordinator or the childminder to rearrange,pick up. In either case, the bus driver would have kept the child on the bus until the child was picked up by the childminder or a parent.

LucieLucie · 03/03/2013 21:39

I missed the bit in your op where you said the driver ' took dd off the bus'. Sorry I presumed he remained in his seat to let her jump off herself as that's what happens where I live.

If the case is that the driver took her off the bus and deliberately left her there knowing an adult hadn't met her then that is a serious safeguarding issue and I would be livid as well, though I do think the cm should take some of the flak for failing to make emergency plan in case of lateness.

The driver may lose his job.

cumfy · 04/03/2013 14:27

I do hope whoever was responsible ie the driver or his manager(s) is sacked.

Just to be clear the OP has not specified how DD got off the bus and has not said driver took dd off the bus or similar.

CrystalTits · 04/03/2013 22:29

Cumfy, the OP says AIBU to be furious with school bus driver [...] For taking my 5year old off the bus and leaving her, alone by a busy main road

Washing I've followed this thread with increasing horror and hope that you get the right outcome.

cumfy · 04/03/2013 22:35

Blush Sorry. I missed that.

JengaBlock · 04/03/2013 22:43

Have just seen this thread and was shocked. Glad your dd was ok and it is all being investigated.

ifitsnotanarse · 04/03/2013 23:00

My DS does not use the school bus but I was horrified to read this thread. So much so that I looked up the guidelines to bus & taxi drivers contracted by our local area education board (in NI, so not run by local council). The guidelines state:

(d) On arriving at school, pupils should be given into the care of school
staff and again on the homeward journey they should be given into
the care of the parent or guardian. Pupils must not be ?abandoned?
or left to their own devices at either end of their journey.

Why is this simple guideline not adopted, and adhered to, by all councils/education boards in the UK?

roadkillbunny · 07/03/2013 21:15

m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-21667210

Not a good week for OCC school bus service, makes me wonder if all things combined there are some serious issues with this service.

Our OCC school bus is very good however, I don't need to use it but those that do are more then happy, always the same driver and good bus and no issues reported at all.

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