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AIBU?

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Original poster

4 year old left on the bus

443 replies

Huskylover1 · 15/12/2017 20:22

Just heard about this on the news.

A 4 year old boy, gets the bus home from school. He misses his stop. Doesn't alert the driver. Driver gets back to the depot and parks up the bus and leaves. Bus driver has now been sacked for this.

In my book, a 4 year old, is way too young to get the bus home. Especially as there was no parent waiting at the bus stop even! Had there been, the parent would have alerted the bus driver that their son was on board, and needed to get off. Usually, this boy makes his own way home from the bus stop, lets himself in, and his parents arrive home from work, shortly thereafter.

Cue lots of moaning by the parents, that they've been let down. No mention from anyone, that perhaps this little boy shouldn't be making this journey alone.

I just can't fathom, how any parent can thinks it's good judgement to let a 4 year old:

  • identify the right school bus to get on
  • realise when he needs to get off
  • walk from the bus stop to home, and let himself in

Bonkers!

OP posts:
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 15/12/2017 22:08

@pisacake I looked at the map link you gave which also contains a point in grangemouth + it's in the middle of the refinery so I assume you don't live there, but if it is significant in some way you may want to get MN to remove the link.

Mossend · 15/12/2017 22:08

This may be bizarre to some posters but a 4 year old, nearly 5, because his birthday has to be before 28th Feb, for him to be in p1 is totally normal if you live rurally and go up school.

It is not a service bus, it is a bus that drops children at their door because they live more than 2 miles away from their nearest school.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:08

no I don't lol

cathyclown · 15/12/2017 22:10

Child is fine.

Driver lost job just before Christmas

Driver will appeal

Family of four yr old will seek compo.

Sad really all round.

Pinkponiesrock · 15/12/2017 22:11

husky in reference to your earlier comment about fife, it’s actually a Kingdom not a county.
Having read the entire thread I can say I’d be livid if that happened to my child, the bus driver should have checked the bus before he got out.
We get calls from the company that transport our children to say they’ve left bags, jackets etc so I’d definitely expect to be called if it was a child left behind!
They have a duty of care to the children on that bus. I grew up in Inverness and the thought of a child of 4 walking over the Kessock bridge is terrifying! It’s a half mile suspension bridge that must be at least 70 metres above the water Shock and I this weather, it was minus 8 up there last week!

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:12

"Family of four yr old will seek compo."

You what?

Fantasticmissfoxy · 15/12/2017 22:15

It was a school bus not a public bus - perfectly normal for P1 kids (age 4) to get the bus home. What's not normal at all is that the driver should know what kids get off at what stops - our driver has a list he ticks off as the kids get on and off the bus to make sure he's accounted for them all. Major failing on the part of the bus driver.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:15

sorry cos this is a bit boring now, is sectarianism big in Inverness area? I clicked on one of the people commenting there and she's got lots of King Billy & UDR stuff on her wall. It seems a bit geographically remote to Inverness but maybe there are historical links or something?

MrsKnightley · 15/12/2017 22:16

For those whose idea of school transport is a double decker bus - in my remote village we have a school car.

And the driver, like the one in Inverness, picks up and drops off at either a front door or agreed drop off point (top of a drive etc).

And, the weather has been bad so transport delays are very common and usually dealt with brilliantly by everyone pitching in.

cathyclown · 15/12/2017 22:17

pisacake,

Put your glass down for a minute.

There is no way this would have been publicised if the family is not seeking some recompense from the insurance company of the bus driver.

S/he has already been sacked. Is that not enough?

Ceto · 15/12/2017 22:18

The parents are at fault.It is fekin ridiculous

No, they aren't. This is a standard arrangement for all children entitled to home to school transport. It's a school minibus, not a public transport type bus, and thousands of children - including 4 year olds - travel this way safely throughout the year. And OP seems to have made up the bit about him letting himself into an empty house, his father was waiting for him.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:20

From reading their FB they were asking for an explanation from bus company how their kid ended up on the wrong side of the Beauly Firth, which wasn't forthcoming.

It's hard to see what compensation would be due, as they haven't actually suffered a financial loss.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 15/12/2017 22:20

Yes I think bus driver should have been given a final warning, not sacked.

I do, too. He took something for granted that he should not have done - he didn't check his vehicle.

But he was maybe exhausted - maybe he had driven in heavy snow all day - whatever - he was wrong - but as others have said - he is human.

A final warning would surely have been enough. I'm sure he was as horrified as anyone that this child could have been badly hurt.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:21

compensation is something you get for injury or loss, if the boy had broken his leg or something might be slightly different story. They seem just to be pissed off, but maybe you think they want dosh, IDK.

Mumof56 · 15/12/2017 22:22

Their first version of the story was that the driver kicked the child off the bus on to the side of the road. Hmm

The treats of violence on that fb page are disgusting

becotide · 15/12/2017 22:22

YOu know I actually think this thread rather highlights the sad state of education in the 1980s and 1990s. There are a disturbing amount of people on this thread who appear to be genuinely unable to extrapolate information with any accuracy from a plainly written news article. It's frightening.

ButchyRestingFace · 15/12/2017 22:23

There is no way this would have been publicised if the family is not seeking some recompense from the insurance company of the bus driver.

On his FB page, the father says the bus company had not been in touch to apologise.

And that they'd deleted his comments and blocked him from their FB page.

I'd probably go to the press too if the bus company were stonewalling my attempts at contact.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 15/12/2017 22:23

Compensation for what? There has been no loss or injury.

Driver was at fault for not checking bus. Everything else is perfectly normal for a child in a rural area using the chartered school bus.

itusedtobeverydifferent · 15/12/2017 22:24

In our remote area we have a school bus, 4 year olds get on 'alone' - the older ones generally take care of the younger ones and the driver is in charge.

It's not hugely unusual.

It's awful how he was left on it though, poor love.

mummyhaschangedhername · 15/12/2017 22:25

I have four children, no chance I would consider letting any of them catch a bus alone.

However, when I lived in Scotland (live in wales now) we lived fairly rural and our village had a school bus that the kids took from aged 4, all of them did, so I don't think I would have found it odd. Don't even think it was only for children either, but it was just what was done ... obviously if I moved back now it would concern me but if I had raised my children there I don't think I would have found it concerning. In fact. I used to think it was awesome there was this service and I lived so close I could of watched them get on the bus from my house.

Ceto · 15/12/2017 22:26

My 4 year old can't reach the bell or the keyhole. He doesn't have his own key yet to come and go as he pleases.

Child's father was looking out of the window for him. Under the normal system the driver would wait to see that the child has been let into the house. The system works perfectly well and safely, mumof56, provided the driver does his job properly.

ButchyRestingFace · 15/12/2017 22:26

Their first version of the story was that the driver kicked the child off the bus on to the side of the road. hmm

That's the version a four-year-old told his father. Obviously he was incorrect but that's hardly surprising given his age.

Ceto · 15/12/2017 22:27

There's no suggestion that the parents are asking for compensation.

cathyclown · 15/12/2017 22:27

Compo for emotional distress. Doesn't have to be physical.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 22:27

"Their first version of the story was that the driver kicked the child off the bus on to the side of the road. hmm"

Because that's what their 4-year-old told them, after the bus company lied about where he was and he was found wandering alone in the snow & dark by members of the public. Are you meaning to be so goady?

"The treats of violence on that fb page are disgusting"

Treats? Are you drunk?

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