Transport heath and safety

[keepingupwiththejoneses]

DS came home on the bus this afternoon, I happened to notice that the children where sitting in different seats.
I said to the escort, jokingly 'everyone moved about?' to which she sighed and told me they had had a visit from the health and safety officer who had decided the one and only wheelchair was in the wrong position and the seat positioning was unsafe so totally rearranged the bus.
Before this there where 6 children on the bus, each child had a single seat with no-one next to them and the wheelchair was strapped in at the back in the middle, it has been like this for the last few years, with no problems.
Now the seats are positioned with 2 next to each other and the wheelchair to the right behind a double seat where the 2 escorts are to seat.
DS was OK today although a little unsettled, as he usually falls asleep within minutes on the way home.
I am dreading tomorrow as he doesn't deal with change very well and he copes with the 45 minute journey by watching the animals in the fields the bus drives by but he can't now as he is on the inside seat. I just know he is going to refuse to go and have a meltdown.
Is it worth contacting the transport dept and complain? He has only just got to the point where he is happy to go on the bus and now this.

Should have said ds has significant ASD and SLD

if it's health & safety that made them put mini bus seats different there is nothing you can do, but i would contact the school and explain about ds might have a meltdown. my dd started a new school and went in a taxi only problem was it was taking nearly 2hrs to get to school and neither the driver or escort spoke a word of english. this caused a meltdown on 2nd day in mid afternoon with the thought of having to get taxi home. she got px for this as they didn't understand.

IS it possible he could swap with a child who has a window seat? Maybe if you explain whole situation to transport folks they will be understanding and accommodate that. xx

Agree with shaz that rotating the children to different seats might be helpful. But of course that depends on all of the children on the bus cooperating.

Keepingupetc - you mention that he normally falls asleep on the way home, so can you siggest that he has a seat with a view in the morning and an "inside" one on the way home; or would this be too stressful for him? Or could he have a window seat with an escort next to him.

Thank for your advice.
I spoke to the escort and driver on friday morning and both asked me if I would ring and make a complaint as they had queried with their manager as the little girl who was sat next to ds is a scratcher and had drawn blood on the boy who she had sat next to the evening before, so they had moved her as the boy refused to sit anywhere near her that morning, and the only other seat was next to ds. Also because of health and bloody safety no child can sit on the seat just behind the door.
I called transport and spoke to the man who not only did ds's risk assessment but also did the check on the bus. He told me that the bus is sub contracted and that he had told the company to re-jig the seats according to the dc's risk assessments and to move the wheelchair to the side of the bus as it had been in the middle. When I explained about ds and the girl and how if that was to happen with him, he would lash out at her, he told me he was going to get in touch with the company and tell them to sort it.
He phoned me back and said he had told the manager to either sort out the seating, as there is plenty of room to move the seats back to single ones, or use a bigger bus. He also said that if this wasn't done by the first day after the holidays then I should phone him direct and he will sort it.
I wasn't home when ds was dropped off and dh didn't look if the seating had been changed, but I will be having a good look on the first day back.