Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Awwlookatmybabyspider · 15/12/2017 20:30

Yes and not forgetting the school is also at fault.

ButchyRestingFace · 15/12/2017 20:31

Sorry but a 4 year old traveling alone.
I will judge and I'll not apologise for it.

Then perhaps you should try reading the article.

The bus driver made a mistake, a very human one, and has been punished accordingly.

Can't see what the parents did wrong in this incident.

Crunchymum · 15/12/2017 20:31

Stop being so inflammatory.

It's a school bus. Not a London double decker.

It takes 8 kids to / from school.

Surely the driver can count to 8?

tissuesosoft · 15/12/2017 20:31

At first it sounds like the boy got on the 607 to Acton! But it was a school mini bus and his father was waiting for him the other side. The bus driver was at fault for not checking the bus before he left!

ToriaPumpkin · 15/12/2017 20:32

At our school the P1s regularly get the bus home. The bus comes to school, the children walk out of the door and onto the bus, and it takes them (roughly) to their houses. Some of these children will still be 4 (my son was when he started P1).

Yes I live in the Highlands. Yes I agree someone should have spotted this child on the bus. No I can't find it in me to get outraged that a 4yo was on a private school transport bus.

Mumof56 · 15/12/2017 20:33

I see no issue with a four year old taking a school bus.

Letting himself in and parents arriving home after though is crazy.

Original poster
Huskylover1 · 15/12/2017 20:33

There were 3 school buses at my kids primary school. I was lucky to be a work from home parent, so dropped them by car. But, I do remember a teacher once telling me, that quite a few children had got on the wrong bus.

I'd be bloody frantic. Imagine your young child, off on the wrong route. You'd have no idea if they'd get off. Then be stuck somewhere they didn't recognise. And what they'd do next. Who they might come across, who had bad intentions. Why risk it?

Strangely, the estate I lived on at the time, had a lot of sahm's with cars, and yet they still put 5 year olds on the bus!! Why?? It always baffled me. So much could go wrong.

OP posts:
curryforbreakfast · 15/12/2017 20:33

4 year olds on a school bus is totally normal. No-one waiting for him is not though.
Driver should not have been fired.

WeirdnessOfDoom · 15/12/2017 20:35

It’s local story here in Inverness. Heard it on the radio, father was apparently “out of his mind”. I don’t understand how responsible parent wouldn’t be waiting for his 4(!!!) year old child at the bus stop.
Feel sorry for the bus driver losing his job, his fault is not checking the bus at the depo but the arrangements around picking up the wee boy are a bit shady.

DustandRubble · 15/12/2017 20:36

OP can you say where you got the info about him getting home before parents from? Because it looks like you are making stuff up for extra outrage.

Fuckit2017 · 15/12/2017 20:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fuckit2017 · 15/12/2017 20:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DustandRubble · 15/12/2017 20:36

according to the BBC article the bus drops outside his house where the Father was waiting. How is that bad?

Mumof56 · 15/12/2017 20:37

I lived on at the time, had a lot of sahm's with cars, and yet they still put 5 year olds on the bus!! Why??

Because loads of cars outside a school is dangerous. Passing the school near me here at pickup/drop off time is a night mare. Rubbish parking, car doors opening in front of traffic, children running out between parked cars, etc. The less cars at schools the better

Original poster
Huskylover1 · 15/12/2017 20:38

dust His Dad was on the radio earlier, and said that they usually arrive home 10 minutes after the little boy gets home. Which explains why no parent was waiting at the bus stop for him. Had a parent been at the bus stop, this never would have happened, as they would have alerted the driver.

OP posts:
extinctspecies · 15/12/2017 20:39

Jeez. It was a school minibus. Not a double-decker FFS.

becotide · 15/12/2017 20:39

the parents haven't done anything wrong here. I don't get why they're being villified

ButchyRestingFace · 15/12/2017 20:39

I'd be bloody frantic. Imagine your young child, off on the wrong route. You'd have no idea if they'd get off. Then be stuck somewhere they didn't recognise. And what they'd do next. Who they might come across, who had bad intentions. Why risk it?

Well, quite. Best go to collect your son in your own car.

And pray you don't get into a car crash on the way back home. Especially on those highland roads.

My point being: there is an element of risk to everything. The parents made a perfectly rational decision to allow their son to travel to/from school by a bus specially chartered to collect/drop off schools kids. There is nothing in the article to suggest that the parents are in any way neglectful or taking undue risks.

The driver made a mistake, as can anyone, including parents.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 15/12/2017 20:40

If it's in the Highlands it's not like he will be dropped off on a residential street with people about and a walk home. He would be dropped off at home and walk a few yards to his house. That's fine even at 4.

frieda909 · 15/12/2017 20:41

Usually, this boy makes his own way home from the bus stop, lets himself in, and his parents arrive home from work, shortly thereafter.

Where did you get that from? The articles I read all said that the bus should have dropped him at home, where his parents were waiting. And that his parents normally drive him home, but that their car was out of service.

This is a school mini bus giving kids a lift from door to door, not a public bus that drops people at random stops. I’m amazed how much extra detail people seem to be able to invent out of nowhere when they read these kinds of stories!

A mini bus really doesn’t have that many seats. How on earth could a driver fail to notice that there was still a child on board?

RightOnTheEdge · 15/12/2017 20:42

I've read loads of reports and I can't see anywhere where it says he let himself into an empty house Confused

They say his Dad was waiting for him!

paperandpaint · 15/12/2017 20:42

Children in London do get minibuses to school in order to reduce traffic around schools (mine did from 6 - her older sister also got the bus and was desperate to also get it). The difference is that they are supervised by a TA or a teacher and the drivers have no role in supervising. The children are registered when they get on the bus and are escorted to their classrooms by the TA when they get to school. On the way home they stay on the bus with the TA until a parent collects and signs for them. I have no issue with a 4 year old getting a school bus but surely there should be a teacher/TA/SMSA type helper supervising??

Crumbs1 · 15/12/2017 20:43

I used to go n a public bus in reception without an adult just my 7 year old sister in charge of several younger children. It was a good mile walk either end.
My eldest two went on the school bus from 4 and got off at the right stop.

suspectsalmon · 15/12/2017 20:43

This happened fairly close to where I live and I know at least one child at the school. It is a small, fairly rural school and there are two buses contracted to transport children to and from the school from the surrounding area. From many comments here this is clearly unusual to many people but not at all in the Highlands. What on earth is wrong with it? Teachers ensure the children are on the right bus and have their seat belts on, parents meet the children off the bus. I traveled to school like this from age 4.

Piffpaffpoff · 15/12/2017 20:43

It was a school minibus
A parents was waiting for him at home
He was due to be dropped off at home

He did not just wander onto the bus (at my school, they are escorted onto the bus by a teacher)
He was not getting off at a random bus stop on the street
It is normal for children this age to catch a school bus, especially in the Highlands where the school can be miles away.

I wish people would get the facts straight before commenting.