RESPONSIBILITIES
Parent/LEA contract
The Education Act requires education authorities to provide transport for pupils who are entitled to receive it. Currently there is no standard contract used UK wide to ensure parents/guardians take responsibility for their children whilst travelling on school transport.
BUSK believes that a contract is necessary to firm up the responsibilities of parents and help make the journey to and from school safer. The contract BUSK is suggesting would:
§ Make parents responsible for transporting their own child to school if banned from the school bus for any behaviour that puts at risk any other pupil, driver or any other road user.
§ Make parents liable to pay costs to an operator if it can be proven that their child has damaged a vehicle in any way.
§ Encourage parents to ensure their children understood why it is essential to behave on school transport and not break the rules as set out in the contract.
§ Support seat belt wearing enforcement.
Pupils need to understand that zero tolerance of bad behaviour will be in force and this message needs to begin at home. It is only by inconveniencing some parents, by banning their children from the school bus and making them responsible for transporting their children themselves for a period of time, that they will be more likely to take steps to ensure their children’s good behaviour.
Responsibility of LEA
An education authority is responsible for providing a safe journey on Home to School Transport facilities. The responsibility is the same for an authority that provides a bus pass for a service route bus or the provision of a concessionary place for a pupil. Parents cannot travel with their children on school transport; the LEA would not allow it nor would it be a realistic solution to ensuring the safe journey of pupils. Therefore, LEAs are acting in ‘loco-parentis’. This effectively means that the education authority, as transport providers must take the same care as the reasonable parent would. Most reasonable parents would agree that children misbehave on a school bus, simply because they are children and therefore require supervision in addition to the driver. BUSK believes that by not providing supervision or other alternative, that the transport provider (the individual or body that pays for the service) is not fulfilling its legal duty of care towards the children transported. The legal responsibilities for the safety of these children is, in BUSK’s view no different from that of an LEA discharging its legal duty of care for pupils whilst they are in school.
Currently, no UK wide procedure is being implemented by all LEAs. BUSK recommends that a system should be in place by all education authorities that ensures:
§ Contracts with transport operators are monitored to unsure compliance with the law and a record keep of all monitoring procedures.
§ Risk assessments are carried out to establish the type of vehicle that is suitable for the age group of pupils to be carried and the route that will be used on the journey.
§ Long term contracts (up to 10 years) are offered so that operators have confidence to invest in new vehicles that offer the best safety features to passengers. Additionally, these operators could then receive all work from schools for school trips to ensure the viability of their investment.
§ Complaints procedure in place as recommended by BUSK.
Responsibility of transport operator
The transport operator must:
§ Provide a mechanically sound vehicle.
§ Have in place, adequate insurance cover.
§ Hold reserve funding to cover maintenance of fleet as required by the Traffic Commissioner and a condition of their Operator’s licence.
§ Hold an Operator’s Licence.
§ Employ fully qualified PCV drivers.
§ Ensure drivers carry out a walk-around check of a vehicle before leaving the depot.
BUSK recommends that its Driver Complaints form is used and that full support is given to any driver who makes a valid complaint.
Responsibilities of drivers
Drivers are responsible for:
§ Driving in such a manner that does not involve a risk to their passengers.
§ Holding a full PCV licence when driving for hire or reward
§ Reporting incidents to management immediately.
Under the Conduct of Passengers, Drivers and Inspectors Public Service Vehicles Regulations, a driver has the power to refuse to carry any passenger, adult or child that puts any other passenger or road user at risk. Drivers may not put a child off a bus and leave them stranded but they can refuse to carry them again.
BUSK recommends that any driver who decides that a pupil should not be carried on grounds of safety, should complete the BUSK Driver Complaints form. It must be remembered by all that the driver’s decision on who is carried/not carried is final.
Responsibility of schools
Where schools contract Home to School transport, the same responsibilities are in place as that of an LEA contracting vehicles. If the LEA contract the transport then a school would not have any liabilities regarding, for instance, a vehicle that was operating illegally. Some schools are under the impression that they are not responsible for their pupil’s safety once they have gone through the school gates. This is not always the case.
Where a safety issue has been brought to the attention of the school, then the school must, in law, deal with it. Failure to do this would be negligent. For example, if a parent informed a school that children were regularly fighting on the journey and distracting the driver from his important task of driving safely and that this was happening once the vehicle left the school, the school must then take some action to try and prevent this from happening or, in some cases, they must warn parents of the problem.
BUSK would recommend that a school write to the Director of Education with a copy to the LEA’s legal department, outlining the problem and the risk it involves and request that the LEA advise them in writing, immediately what action they are going to take to ensure the safety of the pupils. The complaint by the school should always be followed up in writing to ensure that any action promised by the LEA is carried out effectively. A school, ideally, should be able to provide evidence that it is monitoring any situation that has been brought to its attention regarding the safety of its pupils.
When a school receives a complaint about pupils from the transport operator and/or driver, full support should be given to the operator and driver. BUSK would recommend that schools name pupils in assembly if they have put other pupils at risk from their bad behaviour and stress that zero tolerance is in force. Other sanctions could also be imposed such as temporary loss of privileges such as banning a pupil from the school’s rugby team for one match or some other punishment that would ‘hurt’.
As good practice, BUSK would also encourage schools to:
§ Instil confidence in pupils so they know that they can approach a named staff member if they have any concerns about safety on the journey to school. By doing this it may encourage well behaved pupils not to put up with bad behaviour that could be dangerous, by giving them the opportunity to report incidents themselves, in confidence.
§ Read Safe Exit! and implement same.
Responsibilities of pupils
Pupils should be made responsible for their own safety by effective methods of training in emergency procedures and education into the importance of wearing a safety belt and not distracting drivers.
BUSK would recommend that schools read Safe Exit!
BUSK is opposed to schools giving responsibility to older pupils to become Bus Monitors. This can cause bullying and also carries other problems, for example: Where a monitor or prefect is trying to gain order on the journey and has a younger sibling on the bus, the younger brother or sister may not behave simply because the do not wish to do what their older sibling has instructed them to do. Common among brothers and sisters and can make matters worse instead of better. Additionally, BUSK does not believe that the safety of pupils should become the responsibility of other pupils when in fact, the legal liability is that of the transport provider (usually the LEA).
Part 2
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Driver
§ Complete BUSK Driver Complaints Form and provide employer with copy.
§ Complaint logging number be given to driver. The logging number should be printed on all correspondence when dealing with the complaint.
§ A written response from the LEA to the driver and his/her employer should be received within seven day detailing the action taken.
§ Driver should respond in writing immediately if not completely satisfied with how his/her complaint has been handled via the employer.
Transport operator
§ Forward copy of driver’s complaint to LEA and school immediately and keep copy on file.
§ Take up the complaint on behalf of the driver if he/she is not completely satisfied with the action taken by the LEA.
Education authority
§ Investigate complaints immediately.
§ Inform, in writing, parent/guardian and school of complaint.
§ Respond to driver, employer, parent/guardian and school within seven days, advising all parties of the action to be taken.
School
§ Name pupil in assembly and stress that their behaviour could put at risk, all other pupils on the bus, the drive and all other road users.
§ If appropriate, impose sanctions.
§ State support for driver.
Part 3
SANCTIONS FOR UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR ON SCHOOL TRANSPORT
1 day ban:
§ Not wearing safety belt.
§ Swearing at driver
§ Disobeying an instruction given by the driver
§ Throwing rubbish on floor
§ Sticking chewing gum on seats etc.
1 week ban:
§ Mis-use of bell
§ Shouting
§ Smoking
§ Lack of consideration of the general public travelling on service buses
1 month ban:
§ Mis-use of emergency exit
§ Mis-use of main entrance door
§ Bullying
§ Specifically distracting driver
§ Running around
§ Throwing objects inside/outside vehicle
1 term ban:
§ second offence of any of the points outlined in the 1 month ban.
Permanent ban:
§ third offence of any of the points outlined in the 1 month ban.
BUSK recommends sanctions are imposed by LEAs so that they can fulfil their legal duty of care for the pupils they carry on Home to School Transport facilities. These issues would be detailed in the suggested contract BUSK believes LEAs and parents should jointly have in place prior to school transport facilities being awarded.