School bus driver refused to drop my daughter home

[Theherringbones]

My year 9 daughter gets the school bus service home from school everyday. Its a private service for her school only and It’s about a 50 minute journey.

Tonight there is an unusual amount of traffic on the roads. The driver refused to drop my daughter at her (home) stop as it would take him too long to get there. He said he would drop her somewhere 15 minutes away and she would have to have someone pick her up. She was in tears in the phone to me. The usual 50 minute trip took him about 80 minutes.

The bus stop she was dropped at is a clear run to our home as it’s the back roads and there was no traffic on them. I know that it would have taken him an extra 15 minutes to drop her home, but it is his job!

I was stuck in the middle of the traffic in the opposite direction, trying to collect my other child and had to make all sorts of crazy arrangements with friends to get to her. Luckily I made it just in time.

I had words with him and he was completely rude, ignorant, aggressive and arrogant about it. He refused to give me his name and said it would have take him too long to take her home (it would have been an extra time for him) and there wasn’t another option.

How can a private bus service that is the only reason she can attend this school, refuse to drop her home? Am I being unreasonable or should he have dropped her home, no matter what?!

Are you feeling OK? Whilst I agree with your point, you have literally either posted this link or quoted yourself saying pretty much the same thing, 10 times???

Are you trying to get noticed or are you constantly forgetting you have posted? Making the point once absolutely makes sense, saying the same thing in excess of 10 times just isn't necessary

The child is 9 years old. She might not even have had a phone. Unacceptable

But we can take sensible precautions, like paying for a bus to take a child to the stop nearest her home and expecting the driver to do what he's paid for.

Still no excuse. If the driver is that close to the end of his hours he shouldn't be taking on that journey, and if the company doesn't have another driver available then it's in breach of its contract.

She's in year 9, so probably 13 years old. Still unacceptable.

Reminder - there are zero counter arguments.

There are not always two sides to a discussion.

In this case, the bus driver was completely in the wrong. And so is anybody attempting to defend him.

Child safety trumps all.

Autism is autism. "Mild" is something I'd use to refer to mustard. You will greatly irritate a number of people by referring to it as mild.

It's a Spectrum Disorder. This means there are a number of issues related to it that your DD may have. Each one will have an impact. It's often the case that it appearing "mild" is actually due to someone using all their energy to appear as "normal" as possible.

It's true that some have severe issues with things like Sensory Processing Disorder but I don't really think there's a light or mild version!

Also... People with ASD are varied just the same as people without. Some might have learning difficulties or be non-verbal or be super-intelligent but you don't need to have ASD to have these things.

Child safety trumps all.

Ok, you've said this about 15 times now and I've had enough, because it is simply not true. If child safety trumps all you'd never let your child outside. You would never let them into a car or play a sport. It would be mandatory for children to wear kneepads and a helmet when they walk on the footpath. Undoubtedly it would make them safer. But we don't, because it's not practical, or too expensive, or overkill, or bad for their development. Child safety does not trump all, there are always other considerations.

We have no idea why he didn’t want to drive the 15mins required. Might be hours worked. Although that would still be the fault of the company not planning properly and him
for accepting the job.
it is a contract that needs to be fulfilled unless there would be a reason that affected the service as a whole. Weather/broken down etc. in which case a replacement is employed asap and the parents notified of delay or no bus service. To pick a child up and drop somewhere else is inexcusable.

What explanation makes the bus driver’s action acceptable here?

People who work in this area have said hours can be managed in certain circumstances

So what reason was there for the driver to drop children on a country lane miles from their stop?

Can you explain why child safety wasn’t the priority here?

The driver should be on a disciplinary and possibly fired. This is a huge safeguarding incident and if school don’t respond appropriately I’d report them to ofsted and the inspector their school has.

Can you explain why child safety wasn’t the priority here?

I'm not saying anything about this case. But the repeated blanket statement made that in every situation "child safety trumps all" is nonsense. Even your approach about child safety being the priority rather than the only consideration is more reasonable.

He's employed to do a job and has a duty of care - failed / failed.
If he's employed by the school, speak the school and safeguarding staff.
If he's private hire contracted to do this, report this to the licencing authority (local council).
Also, ensure he's been vetted for transporting children and vulnerable users.

You hit a lot of time on your hands I see 🙄

At that age your daughter should easily have been able to walk 15 minutes home. Many younger kids walk further.

Would your daughter being dropped off at home caused even more delays to other pupils ( due to traffic congestion) ? If so, I can understand why he did this

No, Year 9

15 minutes DRIVE. Several miles, along country lanes, at night.

Indeed, in fact a post from the OP herself said she looked it up and it would be over 2 hours' walk. It;s a 15 min drive going 60mph

@GivingitToGod she wasn't being dropped off at home - she was due to be dropped off at a designated stop (which other pupils could also use) nearest to her home - the OP has colloquialised this to 'home stop'

Speak to school. And the bus company This is unacceptable

I’ve already posted but I can’t stop thinking about this thread and you’ve made such an important point I haven’t been able to stop imagining. There are so many examples of the bad things that keep happening to lone women, and dozens of threads here saying how vulnerable women are and need to be protected - all valid. So how are so many people suddenly suggesting that a 13 year old SEN girl should be fine alone, in the dark, far from home?!?

Yes nothing bad happened, yes mum got there in time - thank God! Because the painful truth is that if she hadn’t, all the other kids posters keep talking about would almost certainly have just gone home, and the poor girl could have been tomorrow’s tragic headline. OP I’m so sorry if my putting it that way is painful to you, but please keep pushing on this - it’s appalling and if a male bus driver can’t see that a 13 year old female is vulnerable then I don’t think he should be driving for a school.

Ah, fair enough .

Rather more time than you evidently as you couldn’t even be bothered to read the OP’s posts.

BTW Sloane Square tube goes directly to Victoria.

Why are you pretending you don't think I'm ok?

I came to the thread to repost my point again, so thanks for bumping.

Just a reminder, there are zero counter arguments. Child safety trumps everything.