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?!

He was wrong to drop a nine year old child somewhere other than her home, on her own. I'm not surprised she was in tears.

I get that drivers are only supposed to do so many hours but there must be allowance for exceptions. The safety of a child is paramount.

Get in touch with his employer, this is serious on its own, never mind that he was rude to you.

In which case the bus company should then send another driver to meet him and take over.

Well we have no idea what he would have done do we, since it didn't happen. Maybe he would have waited until someone did arrive. Maybe the bus company would have sent a replacement bus? Or paid for a taxi? If the driver was over driving hours, not a lot of other options.

Is it the school, or a third party provider?
Out of curiosity, is this an independent or a state school?

Such an odd thread - the driver is clearly unreasonable and unprofessional. The excuses around exceeding working hours are non-sensical even if you genuinely believe it to be a valid reason (the contact is with the company not the driver so the company has to provide a driver to transport the children safely. That’s not OPs business).

And the vitriol to a towards a crying child? A child suspected autism? Whatever happened to empathy and kindness?

You do realise school bus drivers do do other driving between times? Quite possible he'd hit his max hours which is a failing of whoever organised his jobs, not of the bus driver.

As someone who used to take a private school minibus home from school... I'd talk to the school OP. My minibus was quite informal and odd, and I took it from year 9 (I think) til year 11. I was also the last stop. Sometimes he dropped me slightly away from my rode but within walking distance, and I was always agreeable to that...15 minute drive is quite different but it's not unthinkable? Especially because he knew she could get in touch with you.

One time it was snowing and reportedly the bus driver took the girls about half way home and then they had to walk. I'm not sure if I believe that story, it was a severe snowstorm, but it would have been an hours walk for secondary school girls....

I think you'll need to see what the school thinks. I think at year 9, they're not going to be as concerned as if she was younger, rightly or wrongly, but I can absolutely understand why you are both upset. I hope it never happens again for you.

At age 14 or so I suspect the driver thought it was better than going over hours, he may have done the earlier run and other trips that day meaning that he was running out of hours, even with clear traffic, 15 minutes is 30 minutes extra.

Is it right in an ideal world, no, but i suspect he was in a tricky situation and you don't know what his depot was advising, it might have been them who said to do the alternative route. Get facts then complain to the school who can take it up with the bus contractor

15 minute drive so presumably 5 miles from home absolute minimum. In the dark. Given the weather conditions in much of the country, possibly in the pouring rain.

13-year-olds are not as mature as some people seem to think. Plenty would struggle to cope in this situation. I think there is a serious argument that the legal duty of care overrides the legal driving hours in this situation.

OP I hope you can get some resolution from this. It must have been so distressing for both of you, and with the driver responding like that I would be furious 💐

But nobody has said he was over hours that's something you've created in your own head. Bus drivers take people to France and beyond yet you think he's run out of hours doing the school run. If say he had run out of hours that is not the passengers problem and he needs to ring his boss and arrange another driver

She’s year 9 not age 9. Unless i’m missing something is it that unreasonable in a situation like this she walks 15 mins? Presume she has a key

Year 9 not 9 year old.

Why are people wittering on about his driving hours? He will be sacked for this. It’s totally unacceptable and a safeguarding fail.

@RachPelders

Actually my dc's school bus dropped in alternative locations many years, it happens, but within a half a mile of the scheduled stop - all kinds of reasons but road closures most common

Our country is such a joke. A parent can't go into their kids' school without a member of staff with them in case they are a paedo/predator of some kind. And yet it's OK to dump this kid on a random street - where she's probably lost, scared etc and there are any number of randoms on the streets. Shit behaviour from the driver and he knows it.

Most of these contracts are to collect and drop to a reasonable place for the pupil to walk or get a lift direct to their home. In rural places it would be unreasonable to expect every farm or outlying cottage to be served by a bus.

The drivers will often take the child direct to home as an obligement. Same with lifting siblings that do not qualify for travel. In unusual circumstances the drivers actions seem reasonable.

15 minute drive not walk and what if she doesn't know the area she was dropped of at. I wouldn't be happy if I'd paid for a taxi and they dropped me 15 minutes drive from home it's a paid service

I think this was unacceptable of the driver. The fact he wouldn’t give his name makes me feel he knew that too. My DD is a similar age, no sen but has had mild anxiety at times. She would definitely have been upset and anxious about this situation.

There are thousands of 13 year olds walking home or taking public transport every day quite safely.

Actually I was going by what OP said the bus driver told her, not making something up. I suspect they could have sent a replacement but in the traffic as described, that could well have taken a long time and I think having any remaining children picked up by parents, rather than waiting about, was a much more preferable solution.

OP, you seem to be being purposely vague. From what I gather

• your child is 14
• there were other children on the bus
• your child does not have diagnosed SEN

Why can’t you pick up and drop off your own child?

Are you paying for this bus service?

15min drive - you can cover quite some distance in 15minutes. My daughter would not be able to walk a 15 minute drive. Some roads may not be suitable for pedestrians and even more dangerous in the dark and rain

But he didn't do that. He handed her over to her mother.

But if that's the case the right thing to do would be to drop the child off and then stop driving and wait to be picked up and driven back to the depot yourself by another driver if that's such a reasonable thing to do. And if that's not a reasonable thing to do, why is it reasonable to cut the route short and leave a child in a random location when it isn't reasonable for the driver to be stuck in a random location?

Also the bus company should be arranging their driver's hours so that a minor (30 minute) delay doesn't cause them to run out of hours.

You don't see random buses stopping all over the country because the drivers ran out of hours because the bus companies plan the routes so that that doesn't happen.