School trip, no seat belt

[Quornflakegirl]

Today my DDs (both age 9) attended a sports tournament that they were selected for in the nearby town. They attend a small rural school and asked parents to provide lifts, I was unable to due to work. Today, on the return to school one of my dtwins informed me she was told not to worry about not having a seatbelt as the car (a Mini) didn’t have belts for 3 rear passengers. The grandparent driving had his own grand child in the front and 3 other children (2 of mine) in the back.

I feel angry that this has happened and will discuss it with the teacher who organised the event. If they school cannot assure me that this won’t happen again I won’t be able to allow my dc to take part in any of these activities.
AIBU to be really cross about this?

YANBU. Quite apart from the safety issue, if the car only has 2 seatbelts in the back, it will only be insured to carry 2 passengers in the back (I had a car with only 2 rear seats and my documents stated this clearly)

A mini is usually only designed to carry 4 passengers (there is an option on the clubman to have 5 seats) hence only having 4 car seats. Im not sure if it would be fully insured if carrying too many.
\I definitely wouldn't be happy about it.

Did the school know?!?

Check exactly what happened with the school tomorrow. It probably never even occurred to them a parent/carer would do it!

They attend a small rural school and asked parents to provide lifts, I was unable to due to work

I read this as school asked parents to organise lifts, not that they organised for you.

Who organised your child's lift for you?

The school asked parents to volunteer lifts, apologies for not making that clear.

I have a four seat car. I’m soon hiring a car for a day as am taking 4 children to an activity a distance away. Usually I just say that I can fit two extra children on top of mine. Madness.

You are not unreasonable but this is why parents giving lifts is such a nightmare. Unless schools check each vehicle and driver then no seat belts could be the least of your worries. Bald tires, dodgy brake, poor eyesight etc.

There should be a risk assessment in place for this. Equally, a risk assessment based on the person providing the transport.

Is it a classic mini that wasn't fitted with seat belts when made? If so it's technically legal but very irresponsible.

We're not allowed to ask parents to organise lifts, it has to happen very informally. For reasons such as this, the school don't want comeback!

I don't think there is grounds for a complaint to school, and it will have to be down to you to arrange a suitable lift or not participate.

stormyteacups the school asked parents to volunteer lifts, I had nothing to do with requesting this lift. I felt uneasy about a parent driving my dc but presumed the school would ensure basic things like seatbelts were worn.

This is what I mean, schools in my experience explicitly don't ask. Because they don't want to have to send a teacher around checking seat belts...and where would that stop? Tyres? How many points on a license?

I would always say that I wouldn't allow my child to go in a car with someone I didn't know. So i would say you should take responsibility for finding a lift yourself.

@RevolutionRadio

Is it a classic mini that wasn't fitted with seat belts when made? If so it's technically legal but very irresponsible.

This is what I assumed

I don't think it was a classic Mini, OP is saying it only had 2 seats in the back, hence only 2 seatbelts, and the driver got one of the DC to sit in the middle anyway.
OP, YANBU, I would be extremely cross about this.

I think you should mention it to the school especially if they asked parents to volunteer to give lifts. IMO the school were also being irresponsible.

When DD was at primary school they would never have asked parents to give lifts to pupils. They would have asked for a DBS check as a minimum. It is a smallish rural school as well.

I wouldn't let my DC travel with a random parent under these circumstances. I told the school, and DD travelled with a teacher.

I'm very good at imagining worst case scenarios though. Ist people would just trust people offering lifts would be sensible adults - it seemed this is what the teachers did in this instance.

I wouldn't be happy either.

However you knew that another parent was driving your child. You agreed to this and allowed your child to go. As a parent I personally wouldn't have allowed my child to be driven by another parent unless I knew and trusted their driving. You have to take some responsibility here.

As a teacher I always make sure these arrangements are made by parents themselves between themselves, because schools cannot verify or be held responsible for how well someone drives. Next time I suggest you make your own arrangements.

I should have been more responsible and have said no to parents driving them, I have certainly learned my lesson and won’t allow this to happen again. I will see the school tomorrow to let them know.

I would expect the school to be clear that basic guidelines are to be followed. All children in back seat. All children in seatbelts. Proper child seats used for children who still need them (my 9yo was barely big enough for a booster seat at 9, a plain seatbelt would have been totally unsafe.).

I would certainly let them know, but not as a complaint as essentially the responsibility is yours. I would expect them to then officially say that they now will play no role in organising transport, and unofficially tell parents to talk to each other to arrange lifts. Which IMO is what should happen anyway.

Unacceptable.
I would let the teacher organising know, and a 4 seater is a 4 seater!
They will know to check number of children on small cars if they are aware of this.

In your shoes I’d be v annoyed at the driver.

I imagine school assumed all drivers would be sober/ insured /aware of need for seat belts. Even so they were daft to coordinate lifts, surely there’d be huge implications if there had been an accident?