coach driver had to swear at and threaten school children to make them put seat belts on

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AIBU to think these kids need a little bit more of this plain speaking in their lives! If I had been that driver, I would simply have refused to drive them home, and just left them there. Poor guy had no choice but to make them behave, or not drive them as they were unsafe.

I imagine it has done them the world of good to hear what people actually think of them. I can't think why the school is complaining, rather than thanking him

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ced3z8kx9eqo

I have a mate who's a coach driver and who has driven school coaches.

I am 100% with the driver on this.

yes, in an ideal world, I would have stopped the coach and refused to move it. And told the school to arrange other transport for their children if they continued to behave like that.

But then what? Sit on the hard shoulder until tomorrow?

The coach was already stopped. It has to have been as the driver wasn't in the driving seat was he.

Did you see anyone sit down and behave? Maybe he could have waited a few hours..

but the end would have still been the same - the driver would still be without a job, and he wouldn't have had the satisfaction. Also, maybe he had things to get home for that were more important than the blown glass little egos of a cargo of thugs.

I hope that the local coach companies now bar the school from hiring their coaches until they can behave.

He should have called the police, If they have seatbelts fitted its an offence not to wear them.

And they driver could have then been out of hours. That would have left a coach full of brats on the side of the road waiting for another coach and a driver unable to get home to his family. Would you be paying the driver for his wasted time ?

Very well said. I hope they cease all work with the school and spread the word through the coach community.

Interesting how 3/4 of the votes agree with the OP despite the actual replies.

It would be great if all local coach companies refused to take bookings from that school. I’m still shocked that it’s the SCHOOL who have made the complaint.

Why didn't the teachers intervene before things got to that stage?

As these were children, the driver would have been liable for them not wearing seatbelts - a legal offence that could probably cost him his job.

Children smoking on the coach also illegal, a fire hazard and will make the coach smell.

I don't blame the driver for going off on one.

Everyone saying he should have stopped the coach.

He clearly had stopped the coach

The thugs were still thugging

Quite, unless it has auto-pilot it must have been stationary 😃

The school and the parents. It was on our local news last night. One parent complaining about the driver. Very calm and polite but said it was disgusting and that a lot of the kids were SEN

I still don't blame the driver, our local kids in a different town are just as feral.

Coach company have confirmed the driver no longer works for them

Have the coach company said they won't take any further bookings from that school? I hope they don't and I hope no other firm does either

Not as far as I am aware. Their statement just said the driver no longer worked for them

I have seen them in the past doing the run for the private school up the road, but I avoid going out during the school run so haven't seen them lately.

Ark Alexandra Academy latest offsted report

Behaviour and attitudes:
Requires Improvement

7 teachers on that bus, one driver doing his own job and theirs too.

Teachers silent even when the driver was having a go at the kids.

He kept the kids safe and delivered them as per his job description .

7 teachers.

7 ffs.

Hope the school never gets another private hire again.

Why would anyone want the work?

The students sound feral. They should know how to behave on a bun us. And what on earth were all the teachers doing? Why did they allow the kids to smoke on the bus and make a mess? Why didn't they intervene? Insanity.

Terrified??? Maybe she was one of the feral teens smoking on the bus and dropping litter. This behaviour is a consequence of that. It won't have come out of nothing.

It seems like the bus driver is a convenient scapegoat for the teachers’ abject failure to control or address the pupils’ behaviour. He’s there to drive the bus, he shouldn’t have to be dealing with feral yobs too.

Teacher here. He was out of order , but he should not have had to discipline them. He was there to drive. What were the teachers doing ? At times I would love to be able to reprimand some of the little dahlings in a more severe manner

The failure isn't the teachers. The failure is the management. If teachers dont have back up they cant discipline. There needs to be a rigorous discipline policy and teachers need to have the confidence to know they will get back up if they use it

It’s not clear though - you can agree the driver’s behaviour was OTT and also agree that some children need better discipline - so the vote doesn’t make sense.

Nobody has to swear!

Sounds like a bunch of shits. Smoking?? Making a mess? Those are the types of children that swearing doesn't phase them, because they have an even more vulgar vocabulary. This man sounds like he is sick and tired of them doing this yet again.

He shouldn't be shouting and threatening them. He should have just refused to drive.

For how long should he have refused to drive? He wanted to get home. He was just trying to do his job.

When would the DC have calmed down, put their seat belts on and stopped smoking?

He could have refused to drive for hours and then what? The teachers were not going to sort it out.

When we had school trips we were fully aware that the driver was doing his job by driving us. We were respectful and we thanked him when he dropped us off both sides. But our teachers took no nonsense. You sat down for the entire trip and behaved so the driver could concentrate.

Nobody has to be a cunt.