To be concerned about school that let's a 4 yr old get the wrong bus home

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Ds and dd go to a great primary school, outstanding ofsted (not that that means much these days) great head t and all together very happy with it. Yesterday one of my sons friends from reception class got off at our bus stop (rural village and bus stop on side of road next to a farm ie lots of tractors and farm traffic). Two other mums were also at pick up and we all assumed one of the others was taking him for a play date until we realised he wasn't with anyone! After s massive panic we took him to ours and I called his mum who was on vm and the school. He got on the wrong bus - not sure how he managed it as they put them in lines with bus captains, school said he told them he was coming for tea at our house so they let him go!!! His mum and dad were fuming and the school met with them this morning and the head has said it shouldn't have happened but the best he can do is to do a bus register and that the boy took it upon himself to change buses. They usually ask for letters for play dates but how on earth did this happen? 4 years old and dropped off on the side if the road. God knows what would have happened if we weren't there. So now very worried about my two on the bus (although they are hopefully not silly enough to pull one like this) I'm thinking of taking them off it...

Booboo there have been big cutbacks when it comes to escorts on school transport.

A driver wouldn't leave a child somewhere alone.
They would return them to the school I would think,after waiting for a short while /ringing the parent.They should have a contact number.

I do think they try their best and from my experience really try to look after the children they have responsibility for.

There just need to be guidelines set out,and they need to be followed.
Including making sure that if there is any deviation from the normal pick up and drop off,it needs to be notified in writing.

We asked about escorts on our school buses years ago when there was trouble on one of them. The whole thing is a grey area about who is actually reponsible during that time. The school day has finished therefore not the school's responsibility. I think technically it is the local council, who has contracted it out to the bus company. Anyway the upshot was there was no mony avaiaiable for an extra person.
On the whole the drivers are good and let the school know if there are any issues. There are also P7 bus monitors who help with the little ones, ensuring seatbelts are on and they will report any issues.

School buses are normal! We always took one as school was out of walking distance and it would not have occurred to my parents to use the car. The modern school run causes all sorts of congestion!

Having said that, good supervision is essential. Two kids at our school were run over by the school bus - on separate occasions - one fatally.

My DC went to a village primary, they went to school on a bus. They were dropped at the end of our lane, we were the last stop. On one occasion they were early and I wasn't there and my ds fell asleep on the bus. The driver carried him asleep up the lane!

Ds got a school bus from 4 (we are in the UK). He couldn't get on it unless I had let the school know myself he was going to be on it. He also wasn't allowed to be collected from school by another parent unless I had given written permission for them to do so. Seems pretty basic security to me. I would be gobsmacked and angry with the school if this had happened to ds.