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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be angry that the school bus driver dropped my 5yo DD 3/4 mile away from school?

76 replies

Bigbootbingo · 11/12/2013 21:22

There was a traffic jam caused by an RTA and he gave the girls on the bus the option to get off and walk the remaining 3/4 mile to school or remain on the bus until he could get through. Many of the girl's chose to walk and my 5 year old decided to go with them. Many of the girls are in the seniors and apparently one held DD's hand all the way. I just feel sick to my stomach, what if none of the girls took my DD under their wing? Should I just be relieved they did and get on with it or should I report the driver. (The bus is on a school contract.)

OP posts:
sparklysilversequins · 13/12/2013 00:08

I feel like crying just imagining that happening to my dd at that age.

No stone would go unturned until he was removed from driving on the school run.

DavidHarewoodsFloozy · 13/12/2013 00:55

Fucking hell. I have a (just gone) 6 yo dd. I feel sick on your behalf.
Dear God, doesn,t bear thinking about! God bless the der child, thank goodness she was sensible.

Fuck, I,d be screaming blue murder over this.

TinselandGretel · 13/12/2013 07:10

I have a DD in reception, I'd be bloody furious if that happened.

Out of interest, was it a dedicated school bus or a regular service bus that goes past the school?

If it's a school bus then the driver has an absolute duty of care, I'd be in school this morning, in person, making a lot of noise about this. Absolutely unacceptable for more reasons than I can mention.

TinselandGretel · 13/12/2013 07:14

Sorry just seen your update, glad school are going to do something. It just beggars belief that anyone would think a child so young can just get off a bus unsupervised. Thank god for the older children.
If I was the older girls mum I'd love to hear that they'd done something so kind and responsible.

mewmeow · 13/12/2013 07:18

Glad you've reported. I'd be having night sweats for weeks if that was dd. very surprised he thought that would be ok.
Older girls sound lovely though, very lucky there, some wouldn't be so responsible at that age.

Bunnyjo · 13/12/2013 08:02

Oh wow. I read this and and felt sick. I have a 6yo DO who has been on the school bus since she just turned 4. I would be apoplectic if her bus driver did something similar. The potential consequences just don't bear thinking about.

Glad you have reported it to the school. Hopefully they will liase with both the bus company and LA to ensure this never happens again.

fluffyraggies · 13/12/2013 08:10

I was cross enough when a bus driver chucked my 15 yo DD off the bus (only passenger) one stop early recently. She asked him politely why he wasn't doing the next stop, at the school, and he told her he didn't know the way!!

My arse he didn't know the way. More like he wanted to start his tea break and thought he would get away with chucking a lone schoolchild off the bus AngryAngry I emailed the company and got a phone call from the manager saying the driver had been reprimanded.

Report OP.

Gileswithachainsaw · 13/12/2013 08:11

Glad you reported. What an idiot ffs.

Those girls sound lovely well done for them, how reconsider and kind of them!!

Do adults not travel in the bus? It's only secondary school round here that has a designated bus the rest use a regular service and travel with the children.

Gileswithachainsaw · 13/12/2013 08:13

Responsible- iPhone fail

Nanny0gg · 13/12/2013 09:14

How come such little ones are on a bus? Is it because of catchment issues?

(not criticising, just hadn't heard of it before in the UK until I'd seen a couple of similar threads on here).

Sounds to me like bus drivers need safeguarding training.

VerySmallSqueak · 13/12/2013 09:21

My DD1 was on the school bus at just 4 years old.They all looked after her,and were so kind,making sure she was comfy when she nodded off,and handing her things off the bus to me (and even a sleeping DD on occasions).

But no way would I have been happy with what you describe,OP.
Unsafe for your DD,and an unfair responsibility for the older kids.

I hope they investigate thoroughly and ensure it doesn't happen again.

And I hope the parents of the older kids hear how proud they should be of them.

DeckTheHallsWithBoughsOfHorry · 13/12/2013 09:33

I've had words about our school bus (catchment covers two villages) when it was obvious the driver wasn't insisting on seatbelts and was letting a 5yo Reception child hang out of the window ...

We live about that distance from school, with only tiny cul-de-sacs to cross, and there's no way I'd let my 5yo Y1 go by himself, or with our 11yo neighbour, who was walking alone from Y5, because it's not a fair responsibility for an 11yo.

Not pfb, not overreacting.

Bunnyjo · 13/12/2013 09:33

NannyOgg we live in a very rural county and school transport is very common here.

In our case, I believe our catchment school is just under 2 miles away, but we would have to cross a main national speed limit trunk road to get to the school. In addition, there is no street lighting or footpaths until you are right in the village; hence DD qualifies for school transport.

In many cases, the nearest catchment primary school is miles away in some cases (over 2 miles qualifies for infant transport and over 3 miles junior transport - there are exceptions to this like unsafe walking routes like I have described above, that mean a shorter distance qualifies for school transport).

In other cases, because of the huge issues we have with school over subscription, a child can often be allocated a school some distance away and again, in certain circumstances, they will also qualify for school transport.

Bunnyjo · 13/12/2013 09:38

Argh, I should not try typing with a child on my lap. I end up repeating myself! Hopefully you still get the gist of what I was trying to say...

RawCoconutMacaroon · 13/12/2013 10:12

Shocking, but not surprising.

Op, we live in a similar rural set up, about a mile from the village school (which is outside the village, newish build in a field). No footpaths, street lights and a busy dual carriageway with no crossing.

The rural kids are bussed from certain pick up points. We has so many issues regarding safety of drop off points, seatbeltsnot being worn, and very bad behaviour etc that we eventually removed the DC from the bus and took them by car. Also, the school drop point is 5min drive away (there is no rush hour!), but the bus route was 40min.

We were then castigated on a regular basis for not using the bus, for dropping by car and for not walking the kids to school (the kids were very much pressured over it despite our complaints).

We felt that the bus company literally could not be trusted with the well being of the Dc, which was a bit grim really.

SomethingkindaOod · 13/12/2013 10:50

DS's (high school) bus drivers won't let them off before school unless a parent comes and actually removes them personally! That was great fun last winter when in the space of one morning they had
An accident on the motorway which choked up the main road
An accident on the main road because it hadn't been gritted
And overnight snow which brought out all the moronic drivers.
Some of the children were on the bus for 2 hours and weren't allowed to get off to walk to school. I ended up going down and getting DS's off the bus. I wasn't allowed to take any other child with me, The driver would have been fired apparently. These were high school students!
I hope something is done Thanks

NoComet · 13/12/2013 10:54

Raw is 100% right.
I never used the primary bus as it took 30minutes+ to do a 10 minute trip and their was no guarantee of seat belts or reasonable behaviour on very narrow roads.

Very twisty make DCs feel sick route simply because council are too mean to fund two mini buses.

And because we live 2.9 miles from school in KS2 we'd have had to pay for this awful service! (Walking on our lanes is not safe)

The secondary bus is even worse it takes an hour to do a 15-20 minute, 5 mile journey.

Again because the council are to mean/lazy to force the bus company to use two buses and not send ours for a handful of outlying DCs. the bus spends 30 minutes heading away from school.

(At least it's free)

bellablot · 13/12/2013 10:56

OMG this scares the shit out of me. You need to report him, the useless fucking idiot, what was he thinking, obviously not thinking. Get it reported ASAP!

BertieBowtiesAreCool · 13/12/2013 10:56

I must be totally lax because my first reaction was Shock and then when I realised she was with other children I thought it sounded fine Confused

Nanny0gg · 13/12/2013 11:27

Bunnyjo

Thanks for the info. I live in a village, but with 'facilities' so the issue has never arisen here for primary children.

One thing I don't get though - if we took children on a school trip, the safety precautions on a coach are so stringent. Seat belts, constant monitoring by staff to make sure they're worn, checking they're seated and behaving etc...

I know it's cost, but surely to God, there ought to be someone on there supervising? And with two adults, the driver would be less likely to get away with that attitude.

(I personally wouldn't want him reprimanded, I'd want him sacked).

Bunnyjo · 13/12/2013 12:08

NannyOgg, I agree. I think what the driver has done is a serious safeguarding issue and should be dealt with accordingly.

On DD's school bus there is only the driver, but all the kids are very well behaved.

The bus driver stops outside our home, I meet him and he gets DD on the bus, puts on her seatbelt and makes sure she has her book bag etc. At the end of the route he stops right outside school and the doors remain closed until one of the teaching staff come and collect the children.

At the end of the school day all the children are put on the bus by the teaching staff and driver (seatbelts applied and checked) and he drops all children off to their parents. If it is going to be a different person (such as a grandparent) it has to be arranged in advance so the driver at least recognises the person he's dropping the child off with.

Our LA is very strict when it comes to school bus behaviour and have revoked the rights to school transport for bad behaviour, particularly with secondary school children.

VerySmallSqueak · 13/12/2013 14:00

Cut backs have meant that it is far more likely that school transport isn't chaperoned now.

The situation described by the Op is one of the reasons why this isn't safe or fair for the children or the drivers.

NoComet · 13/12/2013 16:58

Chaperones would be insanely expensive and mostly unnecessary.

However, it would be nice if they had a clearly set down procedure for what should happen with these various foreseeable problems.

When things go a miss no one seems to know what is meant to happen.

We have neither a school or a bus company contact number for emergencies.

If the bus doesn't turn up in a morning or is late in an evening, we are totally reliant on DCs mobiles. (Primary DCs don't all have phones)

Our bus didn't appear the other morning and DH ended up taking the DDs. No serious problem just a truck blocking the lane, but the bus decided not to wait and go the other way.

Great, he's not late for the rest of his pick ups, but DD2 is already in grief for attendance. Not every one has parents who can pick up the pieces (many will have gone to work).

marmaladeandguitars · 13/12/2013 17:23

Such a shame that the school bus service in some areas is so bad.

DD's is beyond reproach. The bus drivers are lovely, and have been doing the job for years and years.

Before she started school, the first year she was getting the bis, the bus driver actually called round to our house to have a chat and let us know the procedure/talk about any worries we had. They come to all the kid's school plays, Christmas fairs etc, and kids are always making them cards

The bus does not move off unless all children are strapped in safely. Any bad behaviour on the bus is reported by the driver and is dealt with immediately and severely by the school- this has happened maybe twice, the children are very well behaved as a whole. they are individually handed onto the bus by the teacher. School has phoned before, on occasion where the bus is going to be a bit late getting in, for whatever reason.

I was very worried about DD getting the bus, but it's turned into such a positive. She gets time to chat with her friends- some of them older children that she wouldn't see much of in school- and she gets to feel all grown up and independent about getting to school and back, while remaining in a safe environment.

I'm a complete bus convert now Grin

Original poster
Bigbootbingo · 15/12/2013 23:28

I have managed to personal thank the older girl who took care of my DD and I have also spoken to her mother. I am glad I have had chance to talk to them personally.

It does sound as though other schools have better bus systems than DD's school. My own school (where I teach) buses in our students and they have a chaperone, but this is because the children have statements.
My DD goes to an independent school out of town. The bus company are contracted via her school. They did not transport children in KS1 until recently so I am guessing this thing has not been an issue before. They have acted positively and are setting up procedures for the bus company. I am satisfied now. I can not ask for anything more from the school, it wasn't their fault and they were really helpful when I discussed it with them.
Thank you again for everyone's thoughts on this. It was helpful to know I wasn't just being a complete nutter about it.

OP posts: