An interesting one for you...company and duty of care

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

I am a bit stumped! What kind of solicitor would i need to see in order to get legal advice with regards to a company failing in their duty of care to my child. I can't give too much information at the moment, but its basically a school trip company who have behaved appallingly. Happy to pm the details but probably best not to put it on here at the moment!

Thanks in advance!

Thank you LIZS. Appreciate all your help. I am amazed the company behaved like this, it's been so bloody stressful.

Defintley go through school, buck stops with them.

This sounds horribly familiar, I heard of another young lass bullied like this but it was sexual harassment as well so report it to both the school AND the company. It could well be that the local employee is not following their training and/or company policy and they would like to know to protect their reputation as well as help your daughter recover.

It sounds like a very upsetting time for you.

I think your first step is contact the school with a clear list of your issues with the whole trip (include the lead up to it if you think that's important to what happened on the trip).

It's pretty extreme that you had to go to Africa to collect, I would ask to see the school's health and safety plan that they would have to submit to their LA before leaving- I've got a bit of experience in this and would NEVER imagine that this would be an outcome for a parent. Please PM me if you want more specific advice or help- I think I have an idea of the company involved.

Thank you all. Have pm'd you littleturkish :)

I have complained to the company and the school have had that complaint. It didn't occur to me that the school might need to be complained to as well...

I've emailed some local solicitors to get a free half hour with them. Thanks for all your help. I'm hoping I can update soon with the full story. I'm also hoping I won't have to do a daily mail sad face

Floundering do you know what company it was?

If the reason for you collecting her was completely unfounded, I'd have thought you'd be entitled to your money back.

The law is based on the reasonable man. A reasonable person would act on what you are being told and assume it's truthful. You've lost out because of what you've been told. I believe this means you have a basis for a small courts claim at least.

It would also be reasonable to expect that the place your child visited would take care of them and not bully them and lead to a psychological injury.

It sounds like one has led to the other tho.

The problem is that without the info it could (Not saying it does) sound like you're just being previous about your DC not having a good time. I'd be pretty pissed off if I had to pay out for flights to Africa.

Thank you.

I wouldn't have been so upset if she'd just come back and not had the best time, she had no time as they insisted she come home even though she didn't want to.

From what I have heard of the leader he was hugely inappropriate in several situations throughout the trip and it was his decision to that she had to be sent home.

It was certainly a shock to get a call saying can you come and pick your child up from Africa!

They certainly didn't take care of her. She has lost all confidence

Just read back through and want to clarify. She had no choice they told us she HAD to come home and we HAD to collect her. She wanted to stay.

I'm so intrigued. If you HAD to go and get her then they also owe you the cost of the days she did not use, through no fault of her own.

Did he say she misbehaved and therefore wasn't allowed?

I will PM you...

Op no I don't, sorry it was just an article on a radio phone in but no names were mentioned but it rang bells.

Thanks floundering. I wonder if it was the same company!

I'm a teacher and think school should be your first point of contact if they arranged the trip. They will have done risk assessments etc and I presume the teachers travelling with the pupils retained duty of care (I would certainly expect to if I was on a residential trip, regardless of whether another company were involved or not). If I was you I'd call or email the school office and request a meeting with the head ASAP.

Did anything get sorted yet tickle or still waiting til sept? Sorry I haven't messaged back yet

If teachers were there too, then surely they should have investigated and found out what was going on, then sorted it if possible. It sounds odd that this one man had opportunity to bully on multiple occasions, wihout teacher intervention, and then the same man had ultimate control over her going home and demanding you came and got her.

She might as well have been sent completely on her own as the school appear to have not taken any responsibility for your dd's welfare when there. And then managed to get you to not even think about the role they should have been playing!