To be furious with school bus driver

[WashingLion]

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.

Write to your MP too.

I would be equally furious with the childminder.

Hmmm. This smacks of being an ideal candidate for a mumsnet campaign. Compile a list of bus companies along with their relevant MP's and demand that a national protocol be decided and implemented.

Take the decision out of the drivers hands, remove the uncertainty.

Just to update what has happened with this since I last posted. We had heard nothing from the council so contacted them today as the driver is now back driving the school bus. After two weeks of investigation, the council stated 'as part of our initial investigations, it has been brought to our attention that there is not always an adult present to collect (DD) from the bus stop on time'.

This is a desperate lie on the part of the bus company. However, seeing as DD is the only child to get off at our stop and there is no-one else around, it is the bus company's word against ours. I am sure that if I had been repeatedly late over the past 17 months that we have used the bus service, the company would have complained to the school and/or said something to me? But we are usually waiting for the bus as it is late. Basically, they are lying to cover themselves. The person at the council who was initially dealing with this has gone off on long-term sick leave. The school have heard nothing and we are no closer to having a policy in place to prevent this happening again. We have written to our MP.

Washing. That is all really disappointing news. You must be livid.

Sorry it's an investigation they must use evidence to back up someone's statement.

Tell them you want them to verify this statement.

So if they are saying there's not always an adult to collect DD from the bus stop on time have they been letting her off to nobody a lot?

That's dreadful mud-slinging and must make you feel very angry.

However I fail to see how it would be relevant even if it were true. You can't put a child at risk because you don't like what their parent is doing. If you were repeatedly late I am sure there are appropriate ways to address this problem and they clearly have no evidence that they have taken any action of this sort.

Nothing in that statement is at all relevant to the fact that they bus driver left a small child in terrible danger.

Have they put anything in writing ?

It's ridiculous; they have deliberately excluded you, CM and DD from the investigation.
Essentially they are lying that they have conducted an investigation.

Long-term sick my arse.

Cover up.

That is shocking behaviour on their part.

Well done writing to your MP. I do really wonder whether a quick chat with a journalist might not be in order. Local press, perhaps.

Any other suggestions? Free half hour with a lawyer, so you can bandy about some litigious language? Really, they need a kick up the arise.

I also think a Mumsnet Campaign would be perfect.

I thought you all might like to know that I received a response from my MP today saying that my County Council is going to review its bus policies and procedures in light of this incident. I'm delighted on behalf of all the young children in the county who catch the bus (we actually live about 100 yards from the school so walk, but it just felt so urgent and awful that I had to write).

I sincerely hope that others have had a similarly fruitful response?

I don't understand? Did your DD board the bus on her own to be met by a childminder at a stop? Is this a school bus or public bus?

If public then you are being unreasonable to let your 5yo travel on her own? If school bus then you need to be addressing the school with the complaint.

Pigs, it is a school bus, but all school services are ultimately run by the LA.

The policies have to be approved and set by the LA and they are the actual employers of the bus driver.

The policy is that a child, under senior school age, or any age, if disabled etc, unattended and must be dropped off in an approved safe place/manner.

Even if they/anyone in this situation legitimately had no formal responsibility for child, what normal person actually has no problem abandoning a five year old on their own on a busy street?! Frothing at the mouth a little bit here! How would they feel if that happened to their child?!

We have also received a letter from Oxfordshire County Council, apologising and stating that they will 'review their policies and procedures in the light of this incident'.

The bus driver involved is back on the route. He cannot bring himself to look at or speak to me, which is cowardly to say the least. He obviously feels very badly done to.

I have decided on a change of career from September so that I can pick up my kids at the school gates each day. This will mean some loss of income but very worth it for the peace of mind. I can't begin to say how much the whole thing has shaken me up.