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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:
LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 15/12/2017 21:10

Not necessarily harsh to sack him. He made two fairly significant safeguarding errors. For all we know he may have been on his second written warning.

Nanny0gg · 15/12/2017 21:10

His father should have been waiting where the bus stops, not at home

THE BUS IS SUPPOSED TO DROP HIM AT HOME!!!

Stompythedinosaur · 15/12/2017 21:11

Where I live (rural northumberland) the provision for children from 4 is that they are collected and dropped off by minibus. My kids have both done this from 4. I hand them over to the driver, he hands them over to the school and then the same happens on the way back. The driver is fantastic and takes good care of the kids, it's not like being on a normal bus.

I think the driver is at fault for not knowing who was on his bus (guessing he didn't take a proper list) and then not checking his bus at the end.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 15/12/2017 21:11

The child was alright despite everything

Poor little thing was apparently trying to walk home (a route he may not even have known) through the now!

He could have frozen to death, got lost - lads of things. He could have died!

He didn't, but that wasn't because the driver did a good job. It was because his parents rang round everywhere to find out what had happened and thus he was found.

If this was my child I would have been incandescent!`

GetOutOfThatGarden · 15/12/2017 21:11

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

That's exactly the way it is here in Ireland in my town. All my DC used the school bus service from age 4. The bus collects from the house in the morning, teachers put them on when school finishes and bus drops them back to the house. People need to calm down, totally normal.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 15/12/2017 21:12

*snow, not now

crunchymint · 15/12/2017 21:12

He actually sounds a pretty resourceful 4 year old and in no way is he a baby

Mumof56 · 15/12/2017 21:12

His father should have been waiting where the bus stops, not at home

THE BUS IS SUPPOSED TO DROP HIM AT HOME!!!

The bus drives in to his house? How does it fit in the lift in a block of flats?

Lazy father was not waiting where the bus stops

QueenUnicorn · 15/12/2017 21:13

It's a private school bus that collected 8 pupils. It was the drivers responsibility to get him home.

Originalfoogirl · 15/12/2017 21:13

I actually live in Scotland

I’m guessing central belt, where there is little understanding about rural life.

This is not a great story, the bus driver did make a huge mistake and tried to cover it up.

However, the stuff that’s being made up, the sensationalism and judgement, the “I just can’t believe they.....” nonsense is ridiculous. If you lived on the Black Isle or knew anything about it, you’d realise it is an entirely different way of life and to judge it through the prism of urban life is ridiculous.

Original poster
Huskylover1 · 15/12/2017 21:13

Of course loads of people will have heard the same interview. You can't get transcripts on-line of it, or I'd post it here.

The BBC article says different to what the Dad actually said himself on air. I don't know why. Perhaps it's like that reality programme on the TV the other day, that said someone was from the "town of Fife", when in fact, Fife is a County. Journalists throw stuff together real quick.

The Dad said himself, that he was due to arrive home 10 minutes after the child.

I would not have ever done that with a child of 4.

We're getting hung up on whether the area is urban or rural. I don't think a child of 4 should be making his own way home on a bus, then walk, all alone at 4, no matter whether it's London or Portree.

Just my opinion and I can see that many disagree.

OP posts:
Seeingadistance · 15/12/2017 21:14

I do feel a bit sorry for the bus driver but I don't see that his employer had any option but to dismiss him. He failed twice - by not taking the wee boy home, then by not checking the bus at the depot.

This time the boy was soon found safe and well, but a four year old was left wandering around on his own, and the consequences of the driver's negligence could have been so much worse.

becotide · 15/12/2017 21:14

that 4 year old could hve chosen to stay on that bus and die of exposure.

yes the bus driver should have been sacked

cathyclown · 15/12/2017 21:15

Outsourcing of children's way to school and safety is bound to end up with some issues.

Parents need to weigh it up.

southboundagain · 15/12/2017 21:15

Lazy father was not waiting where the bus stops

What, you'd stand outside your house in the snow waiting for your child? It's sensible to be indoors, not lazy - especially if you know that there's a decent chance the bus will be unpredictably late.

MsHomeSlice · 15/12/2017 21:15

tbh this is no surprise to anyone who has children that get the bus

the LEA send out all sorts of letters TO PARENTS about how children must be escorted to the bus stops, how they must be at the stop in plenty of time, about behaviour on buses, about bus times etc however schools do not take their part, they do not escort pupils to the bus, they do not inform the bus if anyone is missing, they do not dismiss children on time, they do not ensure all bus children are on the bus

I have had three children on buses, and the tales I have from the school bus service would make your hair curl tbh

IME school bus services are chaotic at best and downright dangerous at worst.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 15/12/2017 21:15

If a 4 year old is getting a bus to and from school, surely someone sees them on and off the bus?! You don't let a 4 year old wander to their front door in the dark. What if they fall and knock themselves out? It's bloody freezing out there. No way in the world I'd be anywhere else but nailed to the spot my child was being dropped off. Not sitting in my house.

pisacake · 15/12/2017 21:16

here are some more links

stv.tv/news/north/1404474-boy-four-wanders-streets-after-being-abandoned-on-bus/
www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/1973175/scots-four-year-old-forced-to-find-own-way-home-in-snow-after-dopey-bus-driver-forgot-about-him/

the boy was left on the bus, by the driver which was wrong, as he should have checked. however, no word on whether he was responsible for ensuring children get off at right stop

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 15/12/2017 21:17

Can I just say, that people saying the Highlands are getting the wrong picture. This was in Inverness, which is classed as a City. It's not akin to a scene from Braveheart

Can I just say as someone who grew up in rural Scotland and used the school's chartered bus service to get to and from school that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Inverness is a small city. It takes no time at all to drive out of Inverness and be in fields and countryside where families and children live. Those children will go to school in the nearest town or village which has a school - for some of the country children that will be Inverness.

juniorcakeoff · 15/12/2017 21:17

Reception age get on school bus all the time where I live (not middle of nowhere). Teachers count them onto the bus, parents wait at a few different bus stops along the way and collect them. Children attending school are not babies.

Mumof56 · 15/12/2017 21:17

What, you'd stand outside your house in the snow waiting for your child?

Yes. That's what most parents do.

Hat, coat, scarf and out you go. It was only the child's 5th time getting the bus. Why wouldn't you?

Seeingadistance · 15/12/2017 21:18

The buses drop the children off outside their houses! What is so hard to understand about that?! There is no need for parents to stand on their own doorsteps waiting for their children. The children get off the bus, walk a few steps, open the door and go in. Or they might have to ring the doorbell and wait for a parent to let them in!

WooWooSister · 15/12/2017 21:18

They don't have a long 'walk'. Usually the bus drops off at the end of the lane if it's a rural area with little turning space. The parent can see the bus and child from the door of their house.
The bus in this case didn't go anywhere near where it was supposed to drop the child off because the driver completely forgot about the boy.
It's not a standard bus route. The route adapts to suit the DCs on the bus.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 15/12/2017 21:19

@southboundagain - "What, you'd stand outside your house in the snow waiting for your child?"
Abso-bloody-lutely! The child is 4, FFS, not 14!

Mossend · 15/12/2017 21:19

The routes these buses go are not on service bus routes. It is the only way some children can get to school.,
The parents do not have a choice to make if there is no other way to get to school.
This is not a new thing, I went to school 40 years ago and everyone fri my village got the bus to school from P1-P7, no parents took them