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.

[Pegasus11]

I didn't ask them to babysit. The taxi driver goes from the run back in to the town where I work, 20 minutes away. So I asked if the driver could bring the kids in to my office for which I would have paid. However the lady at the taxi company told me at that point that the taxi was already back in town. At which point the awful realisation dawned that my DS's had been left some 20 minutes previously on the doorstep. At which point my blood pressure became seriously raised ... Doesn't bear thinking about!

[corythatwas]

Ime taxi drivers are given very little in the way of instructions when they take up these contracts. Some of them are bright intelligent caring people who work things out for themselves, others not so much.

Particularly remember one who drove disabled dd to secondary school for a while. One of the other passengers was a boy with autism who was a known bolter: the school never as much as allowed him to walk across the playground without a responsible adult. Driver thought it a good idea to send him out of the car to knock for the other children so he didn't have to get out of his seat. Driver also grumbled when dd didn't lift her own wheelchair into the boot.

I did talk to the him about the boy after dd got really worried about the lack of safety. Turned out driver had had no instructions (and no sense) and thought all these children had transport to school because we were "problem families"; he seemed genuinely surprised that these children had disabilities.

[RB68]

Absolutely should not have been left on the door step - children today are generally not just left anywhere and don't have the necessary know how to sort themselves out (ie get to a neighbour or retrieve hidden key as I used to and let themselves in etc.

The situation was caused by babysitter, the taxi driver did not follow process.

I would do a few things:
a.sack babysitter - clearly has no idea of responsibility and did not do the right thing in an emergency
b.complain to council re situation with taxi driver
c. ensure taxi firm have a plan b - ie bring to you in town as they are going that way anyway
d. do some kiduction regarding what to do in these situations and leave a key with a neighbour or friend you can get to pop round etc (I would be happy with a code lock with key inside like for carers and teach them the code. safer in the house rather than outside but still not great.

[Pegasus11]

Kiduction is a really good idea. Thanks. It seems they did try our neighbour but she wasn't in .... Which I was quite impressed by since as you say they're not really "savvy".

[Andbabymakesthree]

Safeguarding. Contact your LA transport team.

[SatansLittleHelper2]

Yanbu. This has happened a few times with my dcs (( sn school )) given that the.taxi companies charge massive premium (( my sons taxi costs 30k plus a year )) the least they can do is as their job description describes, which in most cases is a.face to face handover with an adult.

[JenniferYellowHat1980]

How long did they end up on the doorstep alone for then? And what possible reason could your babysitter have for not being available and not letting you know well before time?

I would be livid about this and I would be making sure the LA and the agency were fully aware of what happened and not just the babysitter and the taxi driver. Not suggesting the driver should have babysat but that s/he should have followed procedure for this eventuality, which will not be to dump a 7 and 5 year old on the doorstep.

[FeliciaJollygoodfellow]

My boys are bussed to school, we have been told that if there is no one to greet them at home they will be driven to the nearest police station.

YANBU at all. I would go ballistic even though mine are both 7.

[FasterThanASnakeAndAMongoose]

To add to my point, it's not about asking the taxi driver to babysit.

The driver and/or his company is working for the LA and there will be a clear safeguarding protocol for them.

It's about more than that though. Even if there wasn't an official protocol or the driver was unaware of it, we all have a duty of care as responsible adults. I would hope that we all would step in if we became aware of a vulnerable child like the OP's were at that moment. The taxi driver was an adult and he knew that 2 children were vulnerable. Nothing should have been more important than safeguarding them at that moment.

[ZigZagIntoTheBlue]

I haven't read the whole thread but I'm inclined to say the taxi driver is at fault. In my authority if there is no one to receive the children they're meant to call the parent and if they can't get hold of anyone they call social services. Under no circumstances would a child be left alone on a doorstep!

[Reindeerlily]

Surely the taxi driver has a care of duty with the children seeing as he's driving them home? Also common sense should prevail. It's not his fault but who would leave little children on their own.

[LynetteScavo]

How many posters saying it's not the taxi drivers fault would leave a 5 and 7yo alone?

I wouldn't just drive off and leave them. Because I couldn't live with myself if something bad happened to them.

My friend had a similar situation, and changed taxi firms.

[Tanith]

We currently have a child brought to us by taxi (he has SEN). The driver escorts the child to our door and waits until we answer. It's the responsibility of whoever is caring for the child (i.e. the taxi driver) to ensure that they hand over to the appropriate adult. No exceptions.

Yes, the babysitter should have been there and she wasn't. These things happen. What should never happen is that the child is abandoned without supervision and it's the driver who must ensure that he hands over to the next adult carer.

[redhat]

I would be having kittens if it was my DC. But I would also treat a taxi drop off like a school bus drop off and would not expect them to take responsibility for my DC.

My response was not meant to imply that I didn't think that the taxi driver should as a human being have ensured the children were safe.

[MeAndMy3LovelyBoys]

Omg OP You would think they'd at least make sure the children get inside their home safely to the next adult in charge of looking after them. And if that fails then don't dump them on the doorstep! Get the children back in the car and come back later. Charge if necessary.
YANBU- there is something called "common sense".
Both the baby sitter and taxi firm were at fault.

[MeAndMy3LovelyBoys]

Maybe not get them back in the car and come back later. But get them back in the car, ring emergency contacts and wait with the children until someone comes to the house.

[Creampastry]

Is your nearest school really 2 doors away, and you are saying you didn't get in???? Really?

[honkinghaddock]

They are required to have responsibility for the children they are transporting until they are handed over to their parent/ carer. It is part of their contract. If no one is home there are procedures to follow. In my authority it would be contacting childrens services.

[Mycatsabastard]

Absolutely the tax driver shouldn't have left two such small children alone in a garden. That's really not acceptable.

He has a duty of care while he is driving them and that means he doesn't just drop them off without ensuring they are handed over to another responsible adult.

I think you should contact the school and discuss it with them first and foremost to see what the protocols are with the transport system. You should also consider getting an extremely basic PAYG phone for your 7 year old with emergency phone numbers programmed into it which is only to be used in this situation, although lets hope it doesn't happen again.

Does the school have an after school club? Would it be easier to put the children in there and get the taxi home later when you are on the way home from work? I'd be concerned that the babysitter isn't leaving enough time to make the journey to your home.

[CrazyDuchess]

Why are so surprised cream happens quite a lot... are you based in the UK??

[Pegasus11]

Yes. My nearest school, which is Ofsted outstanding and has wraparound care was full at Year 1 when we moved here. So DS1 got sent up the road (in the taxi) to a school with no wraparound cafe. Tears were shed about this situation and the hassle of having to sort out taxis and babysitters. But you can't rage against the system. It is as it is. We could have sent DS2 to the nearer school but having 2 DS in different schools would never have worked. Logistics are already a headache ....

[honkinghaddock]

The op won't have a choice over taxi times. School transport taxis leave at the end of afternoon school.

[Pegasus11]

This is true. And if a majority of the taxi occupants do an after school club they all have to do it!