School Taxi left my children on doorstep

[Pegasus11]

I am a little shaken. I work but I have a normally reliable babysitter who meets my DS (5 and 7) from their school taxi. They are entitled to transport as they were sent to a non catchment school when we moved.

Today my babysitter called me at work at 1545 to say she wasn't at my house. Why she had not let me know if she was stuck in traffic sooner I don't know, but she didn't. I immediately called the taxi firm to ask them to hang onto my kids until I could get there/get someone to meet them.

The reply was that the children had been left on the doorstep and it was my responsibility to make sure there was someone there, not theirs to check the children got in. I know it is my responsibility to make sure there is someone there and I am very upset with the babysitter for not leetting me know sooner too. But the "safety valve" has to be that the taxi firm don't just release reception age children out of the taxi. It could happen if someone coming to collect children had a road accident or anything.

I am just relieved that nothing happened and that my kids are ok, and the taxi driver is a nice man. But it was heart in the mouth territory when the taxi lady calmly told me the kids were "out there" on their own and felt the need to share.

[Fairuza]

Some children in school will be only just 4 in September, it's a huge risk to just leave them at an address.

I don't think you'd have had some of the responses above if it was another mum dropping young kids off from a playdate. There should be a higher expectation of safeguarding from someone being paid by the local authority.

[scarlets]

I'm going against the flow of opinion here. I think that the taxi driver was slap-dash, and far from blameless. I doubt the protocol for primary school aged children is "drop and run".

The sitter needs to know that this mustn't happen again, too.

[Birdsgottafly]

The orecious posters are wrong that the Taxi, given the contract, aren't responsible for seeing that the children aren't delivered safety.

When a contract is given, the LA (or LEA) guidelines are made clear and if not followed, the firm can lose the contract.

However, as said, the alternative would have been to contact the Safeguarding Officer, who have told the driver to take them to the Police Station.

[Propertyquandry]

Only on MN would everyone be saying the taxi driver had no responsibility here. Absolutely the babysitter is at fault. Absolutely! However, no adult in their right mind would leave a a reception age child alone to sit on a step if the adult who normally meets them wasn't there. No way.

[Fairuza]

The fact that the babysitter (or even the OP) is at fault is irrelevant to the actions of the driver. The children's adult could have been unable to be there through no fault of their own.

[monkeywithacowface]

Don't worry koala when it comes to school transport the UK system is set up to make everything as difficult as possible for all involved! I pray I never need it for mine

[trafalgargal]

The taxi woman was wrong it is definitely not the process. I'd call the transport dept at your council and let them know what happened.
Either taxi woman is a cow and was trying to scare you or they are ignoring the safeguarding written into their contract with the LEA. Either way the transport dept has the powers to pull them back into line.

Bit silly of the cab company as contracts run September to July and a cock up now will be remembered when deciding who is getting contracts from September.

[vjg13]

My daughter has a taxi/minibus to and from school (SEN) and has done for 13 years and the driver always checks she is inside before they leave. Would expect this too with younger children. If there is no reply the protocol is to contact social care.

[bigTillyMint]

I believe (have a lot of dealings with this type of situation through my job) that Birds is right - if it is a contracted-by-the-LA taxi, then they have a duty of care to make sure that there is an adult to receive the children. Unfortunately that could mean that they would be taken to the Police Station or SS if there wasn't an adult there.

So glad that they were actually on the doorstep and nothing had happened to them.

Is the baby sitter contracted to start with enough time to allow for a situation like this? So if the children are due back at 3.45, she is contracted to be there from say 3.30 so that she will always be definitely there in time? And that she rings you at 3.30 if she is not actually inside the house so that you can alert the taxi firm?

What a horrible shock for you.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

Check your LA transport policy, ours states that there must be someone to receive the child, if not they will contact police/social services for assistance. We also have to supply more than one emergency contact number. I would also be finding a new babysitter ASAP.

[2nds]

The taxi driver and company are at fault and you are their customer. I'd make a formal complaint to the company and I'd also report them to the police stating exactly what had happened. This might actually be enough to have the driver lose his taxi licence and to be honest if he's that negligent he shouldn't be driving a taxi.

[AbyssinianBanana]

I'd be livid with the taxi company. The school are not responsible for children once school has finished but imagine them shoving the children out the door, locking up, and leaving them. After all, schools are not your babysitters either, are they?

Complain to taxi company. If they can't be arsed, they shouldn't have bid on the contract to pick up young children!!!

[Lynnm63]

My dd has LA transport for SEN. They wait for me to open the door before they drive off. If I didn't I'm sure they'd put her back on the bus.

[Theonslostbits]

My 12 year old gets school transport. He has mild autism. On a friday he finishes school at 3pm and the taxi gets him home at 3.20pm. I have to pick my 4 year old up from nursery at 3.20 (two streets away). I told the escort/taxi driver I would give him a key (he is capable) as I would only be 5/10 mins. They said they were not able to do that and would wait outside until I came back.

I find it far more dangerous to leave a 5 year old on the door step who probably has limited road sense and possibly be trusting of strange adults. I would ring school transport and complain!

[mygorgeousmilo]

The babysitter is of course at fault for not letting you know sooner, but there should be some kind of procedure for children being dropped off by the LA(even by taxi). The taxi driver is at fault, despite it not being in his job description, he had at that moment the responsibility for two young children. If I, as an example, work in a shop and a child walks in and says he can't find his mum - I'm not going to say "oh well I'm not a babysitter, am I?". By being hired by the local authority to provide a service, he was entrusted with your children's safety, and should be held to account for endangering them. Both the babysitter and the driver are equally irresponsible in my opinion!

[Creampastry]

Could you have not gone home to meet your kids?

[MammaTJ]

I would be cross with the taxi and the babysitter.

Ultimately, none of this was your fault. You should not care if they had activated the child protection. It would have been looked into and you would have been found to have taken all reasonable steps to ensure your children were adequately cared for.

I would sack the babysitter, as this cannot be allowed to happen again and complain to the LA about the transport leaving them!

[trafalgargal]

It isn't a police matter.
Taxi companies are licensed by the local council who also award the contracts to the taxi companies via the LEA.

[amarmai]

Report to the school as I am sure that they have to deal with this safeguarding breach . I am concerned re your babysitter leaving it so late to call you as that indicates she was hoping to get to your place by the skin of her teeth. If that is her thinking. I think you are misplacing your trust in her as she may be doing or not doing other things and you do not know. This wd make me give notice and find better care.

[NewLife4Me]

I'm not sure, maybe the driver didn't feel appropriately safe or indeed qualified to mind children. Their job is driving.
It's your child minders fault not the poor driver.

[HoneyDragon]

The taxi company are at fault, if it's done through the LEA they've failed safe guarding procedure.

As for your babysitter, they are at fault but you do need to take into account when she got stuck in traffic, if she was five minutes away and there was a very recent incident than that is a genuine accident and she couldn't have called sooner. Things like this happen, hence safe guarding procedure. The children HAVE to be handed over to someone.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

See this is something I wonder about too, my DS is also 12, has SEN transport and is perfectly capable of letting himself in / being home alone, he's had a key since year 5. Am I meant to be at home to receive him till he's 16?

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I think you should complain about the taxi form as this does not sound right. Fair enough things were ok this time but what about next time? Plus your kids will worry it could happen again? You need to be able to reassure them it won't. Next time it could be winter and cold and dark and raining. Would the taxi driver just dump them then?

[2nds]

Creampastry? What if she's a surgeon in theatre can she just leave the patient to toddle off home? Honestly some posters should maybe have a wee think before adding a comment. Many people can't lift their own children for various reasons this is why people have these arrangements.