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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Reception child on school trip in front seat of parents car with airbag

117 replies

aintnomountainhighenough · 04/07/2008 22:33

I would like other mumsnetters thoughts on a situation that has happened today that I am very upset about. My DD has been on a school outing. I offered to drive but was told there were enough parents driving to take the children to and from the venue. My DD told me tonight that she was in a car with 2 other children and was sat in the front seat. Alarm bells started ringing, I never let my children sit in the front. I popped around to see the parent who she came home with and have found that she was put in the front seat of a car with an airbag, she was 'chosen' because she was the tallest. The TA who put the child in the front of the car took the child of the mum who was driving my DD in the back of her car. To say I am upset is an understatement. Of course I will raise this on Monday but what am I over reacting. Opinions please.

OP posts:

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stitch · 05/07/2008 17:40

lol tissy. no just tired.

cocolepew · 05/07/2008 17:42

Stitch, you can just say YABU, without being snidey. The op is asking opinions, not trying to force hers on anyone.

stitch · 05/07/2008 17:52

cocole. i am sorry you think i am being snide. the op is so far beyound unreasonable, she is in another dimension completely. she will go to school and make the lives of people there miserable. people who are entrusted with the care of many children, and who are obviously doing a decent job. her complaining will take up an inordinate amount of the teachers time. time in which the teacher will not be able to teach other children in her class. that is not just unreasonable, but also incredibly selfish.
the school, like people everywhere, take calculated risks. if her calculations are not the same as the schools, then it is up to her to sort itout. not make the school staffs life miserable.
i hope her dc had a fun time on the trip, and really enjoyed herself.

stitch · 05/07/2008 17:53

so no, i dont think a simple yabu is enough of an answer

dramaqueen · 05/07/2008 18:09

I think you are out of order Stitch. I (and most people I know) don't put their own kids under 12 in the front of our cars, let alone another person's child. They are so much safer in the back.

I also wonder whether these people have their insurance checked by the school? Oh, and I have more than one child so do not consider this to be PFB stuff. It is common sense which does not cost a penny.

Bridie3 · 05/07/2008 18:19

Our village primary always uses parent drivers to transport children.They make us check insurance details. Parents provide their own booster seats.

Perhaps in a small rural area, where we all know one another, there is more mutual trust. I have driven probably 20 children who weren't mine in the last three years. We wouldn't be able to afford half the trips we do if parents didn't volunteer. Reading some of the suspicion on these threads makes me feel sad. I know safety is important, of course. But...

We help in school because we want the children to have the broadest curriculum possible. I don't help in my children's classes most of the time and often I drive children who aren't mine or even in my kids' classes. I also do it in my freelance work time--ie, I'm giving up earnings. I don't get petrol money, either.

LadyMuck · 05/07/2008 18:20

If we were talking about an 11yo I might feel differently, but we are talking about a 5yo. However tall the said 5yo is I would have expected a parent to be able to have a say as to whether the child sat in someone's front seat or not. Many 5yos are still within height and weight of a full car seat not just a booster. But personally I'm more concerned about the children being taken in cars by other parents. Is this really standard practice in infant schools?

lou031205 · 05/07/2008 18:22

The thing is, the OP offered to drive, and was turned down!

That would make my blood boil in this situation.

stitch · 05/07/2008 18:22

dq, fwiw, i also put my dc in the back. when i hav eother children in the car, they sit in the back, and my dc sit in the front, in suitable child seats.
however, schools always have everything risk asessed to within an inch of their lives. no school in the country would risk putting a child in a situation in their care, that did not follow appropriate guidelines. what the op wants is special treatment for he child purely because it is her child. not for any reasobale reasons.
i would like to think that schools spend so much time and money and energy purely for the sake of the children in their care, but i am cynic anough to understand that it is because they do not want to be sued by anyone if anything goes wrong.

nappyaddict · 05/07/2008 18:23

it's only illegal to put a rear facing seat in the front with the airbag switched on.

stitch · 05/07/2008 18:25

lou, because the school does not treat school trips as days out for the parents, but as educational oppurtunities for the children!
the parents are there as helpers. not to cause more problems.
the school asessed the need, and decided that the op 's help was not needed. inline with their policies.

littleoldme · 05/07/2008 18:30

As a teacher I'm extremely concerned that children under the care of school sre being driven by parents in the first place. It sets off about million health and safety alarm bells.

If you are still concerned on Monday I would suggest you do two things: firstly check the web and see if you can find your LEA's schools trips policy, they will have one somewhere. Secondly, go to the school and ask to see a copy of the risk assessments done for the trip. If they haven't done them , or refuse to show you get on to the LEA.

Let us know how you get on.

nappyaddict · 05/07/2008 18:31

as long as the seat was as far back as possible it wouldn't have bothered me.

Bridie3 · 05/07/2008 18:34

Our head (and her teachers) know the children's parents and ask people she trusts to drive the children. And we fill in all the risk assessments and all of us have to notify our insurance companies and make sure we have adequate cover. As far as I'm aware, there has NEVER been a complaint/incident involving parent drivers.

itati · 05/07/2008 18:36

Just for one journey is irrelevant. Most accidents happen close to home. I would have been furious if it had been my child. Mine are never allowed in the front.

itati · 05/07/2008 18:38

stitch!

I refused to sign a form for my son to leave school to go somewhere and be driven by a teacher or other parent. Call me what you want, I call it taking responsibilty for my son.

wheresthehamster · 05/07/2008 18:56

Mmmm. Food for thought. As a neglectful parent I would a) never think of asking my child where they sat in a car and b) my child would never offer that amount of detail if I didn't ask. Blissful ignorance I suppose.

I'm wondering now if my 10 year-old should continue to sit in the front.

If you subtract the amount of people killed by inflating airbags from the amount of people actually saved by them does it come to more than would be the case if they had never been invented? TBH they sound more trouble than they are worth.

cocolepew · 05/07/2008 19:00

I have a friend whose daughter (23) was involved in an accident were the airbags deployed. They did save her from a more serious injury, but she had burns and broken bones in her face from them. If there is room a child should be in the back.

clam · 05/07/2008 19:12

Look, it is perfectly reasonable for parents to set their own bar as to what they consider safe for their own child, so if the OP wants to make it clear to the school of her wishes in future, fine. BUT, we all need to be aware that what will happen is that trips of all kinds are severely restricted in future, possibly to the extent of none taking place at all.
ANMHenough.... do you really mean that your child will never travel in anyone else's car, ever? Won't that be terribly onerous on you? No car-pooling for brownies/netball/parties/swimming, etc...? You're going to be spending your whole life in the car!

clam · 05/07/2008 19:18

Mind you, I have to wonder if the reason that so many of us are quite laid-back about this issue is because we've been fortunate enough for the worst case scenario never to have materialised. If, God forbid, our DCs were involved in an accident then we might be thinking differently - and trying to raise awareness of airbag safety to other parents.

wheresthehamster · 05/07/2008 19:20

Shouldn't these issues have been raised though when (presumably) the parents signed the agreement stating it was ok for them to be driven by parents?

MumRum · 05/07/2008 19:22

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned.. I didn skim the last few replys...
BUT do we know if the airbag was turned of..

scanner · 05/07/2008 19:25

Btw there is a height checking thing in Halfords for booster seats, dd1 is 8 and taller than the min height, so she was happy to find out that she didn't have to have a booster any longer.

I have always been aware of not putting children in seats with an airbag and would be extremely cross if I found out a TA had allowed this. And I have three dc's so no pfb, just a responsible parent.

Dottoressa · 05/07/2008 21:44

75kg adult? Oh fab. I am 46kg.

BlueCornflower · 05/07/2008 22:54

Only read half the thread (need to go to bed!) but am totally with OP. I never put my 4 year old DD in front seat as the air bag does not switch off. Can't believe so many people are unaware of the dangers. And totally agree with you about the issue of the teacher taking risks with your child too.

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