A Brief History Line.
22nd
January 2003 Initial meeting of parents to
gauge feeling about the accident – agreed to launch a
campaign to fight for safer school
buses and work along side BUSK.
27th January 2003 Steering committee meet
to formulate action plan and research the legislation
surrounding school transport.
3rd February 2003 Web domain purchased
www.stuartscampaign.com. Initial discussions on the
design of letterhead and logo. Contact made
with local AM’s, MEP’s and MP.
14th February 2003 Meeting with John
Smith MP to discuss our concerns around the accident. MP
pledged his support and will table any
questions for Stuart’s Campaign in the
House of Commons.
4th March 2003
Public meeting held to vote in Stuart’s Campaign Constitution, to elect the
General Committee Members and explain the legal
position to date.
11th March 2003 PO Box address established and bank account opened.
17th March 2003
Auction held at the White Lion
pub raised approx £2,500.00, £1,500.00 going
towards Stuart’s Memorial Fund and £1,000 to Stuart’s
Campaign.
29th March 2003 First fundraiser at Ystradowen village hall. Total amount raised approx £1000.00.
2nd April 2003 Official media launch of Stuart’s
Campaign. Blanket coverage on BBC, ITV, BBC
Radio Wales, Real Radio, Red Dragon Radio, Newspapers
inc. Western Mail, South
Wales Echo, The Gem and the Daily Telegraph –
coincide with National Assembly
elections.
7th April 2003 Letter sent to all Assembly election
candidates requesting support for Stuart’s
Campaign.
14th April 2003 A ‘Question Time’ on school
transport organised with a panel consisting of all
Assembly candidates standing for election in the Vale of
Glamorgan – cross party
support pledged by all candidates. This was featured on BBC Radio
Wales’ People’s
Champion election coverage. We also met with Rob Humphreys, a Liberal Democrat
regional list candidate.
27th April 2003 A sponsored Junior Aquathon was
organised by Marcus Butler-Slinn (a close friend of
Stuart’s) at Monmouth School. Each competitor swam and
ran. This event raised
sponsorship money in excess of £4,500.00.
5th May 2003 Official press release – Dr. Chris
Howard addressed the Annual Conference of the
National Association of Head Teachers in York. The motion called for
the abolition
of the 3 for 2 rule, one child one seat one seat belt and for better
supervision. This
was unanimously accepted.
6th May 2003 Children’s BBC Newsround covered
the acceptance of the vote by the Head Teachers
Union. This was a follow up from the original reports
covering the accident. They
encouraged children to contact the web site with their
comments.
20th May 2003 Stuart’s Campaign attended the
‘State of the Vale’ debate arranged by the Vale of
Glamorgan Council. Questioned – the Vale’s school transport
policy but the Vale had
no response as they stated they were unable to comment until
after the legal
proceedings had been concluded.
30th May 2003 Meeting held with Mr Peter Black
AM, Chair of the Education and Life Long Learning
Committee, who promised to do everything in his power to
improve school transport
in Wales.
2nd June 2003 Meeting held with Welsh Local Government
Association (WLGA) who promised to look
into best practise in school transport
throughout the 22 Local Authorities in Wales and
report their findings together with detailed costings to Jane
Davidson AM, Minister for
Education and Life Long Learning.
4th June 2003 Vale of Glamorgan AM Jane Hutt attended
this campaign meeting to discuss and advise
the group on the next step forward in relation to the school
transport issue within the
National Assembly for Wales.
12th June 2003 Letter sent to all successful AM’s
congratulating them on their election to the National
Assembly and calling on them to publicly support our campaign.
12th June 2003 Meeting held with Mr Peter Clarke, The
Children’s Commissioner for Wales, who
publicly fully supports the aims of Stuart’s Campaign and will research into
school
transport policy as a matter of urgency once the result of the pending Inquest is
known.
12th June 2003 Children’s BBC Short Change programme ran
a report on the issues associated
with school transport and interviewed Elliot Mudd (a close friend of Stuart’s,
who was
sitting next to him on the bus the day of the accident). The programme encouraged
children to contact the web site with their comments.
12th June 2003 Official press release – response to the
notification that the Crown Prosecution Service
would not be bringing any individual prosecutions – Stuart’s
Campaign calls on the
National Assembly, LEA’s, Local Authorities and schools to work
together to ensure
safer school transport. Full media coverage obtained.
18th June 2003 Meeting held with the Chair of Governors
at Cowbridge Comprehensive School to ask
if they will publicly support the campaign. Whilst they were
sympathetic to the
campaign, they felt they were unable to support the campaign until the full
legal
procedures had been completed.
28th June 2003 Fundraising coffee morning at Treoes Village Hall. Total amount raised £600.00. Grateful
thanks must be given to Mrs Karen Vaughan-Jones for arranging the
event.
8th July 2003 Stuart’s Campaign presented its aims
to the National Assembly Members at a ‘Lobbying
Event’ and called on the AM’s to support the
campaign by starting its own enquiry
into school transport in Wales. The National Assembly
stated that it would set up a
sub-committee of the three policy areas responsible for school bus
transport, namely,
Education and Life Long Learning, Economic Development & Transport and
Local
Government & Public Services , to look into the issues of school bus transport
& report
back their findings to The Children & Young People Cabinet
Sub-Committee.
14th July 2003 Meeting held with Dr Brian
Gibbons AM, Deputy Minister for Transport who listened
sympathetically to our concerns, however, he was unable to offer
any solutions but
stated that he was totally committed to finding a satisfactory outcome.
14th August 2003 Stuart Cable, drummer with the Stereophonics and host of Cable TV on BBC Wales
gives his full support to the campaign.
20th
August 2003 Vale of
Glamorgan Agricultural Show. Stuart's Campaign had a trade stand to
raise
awareness in the issues. The show also raised a total of £160.00.
28th
August 2003 Meeting
held with Mr Chris Reading, Committee Clerk for The National Assembly for
Wales who has been charged with writing the terms of reference for the
Sub-
Committee to look into the issues of school bus transport.
3rd September 2003 Interviews held with BBC Wales for a documentary on the safety issues of school bus transport.
27th September 2003 BUSK 10th Anniversary Dinner - The village of Ystradowen receive The Community Award for their response to the events of 3rd December 2002 which resulted in the setting up of Stuart's Campaign.
30th September 2003 Thanks to Mrs Anna Raikes for successfully completing a self-imposed sponsored slim, for 6 months, loosing a total of 1st 3lbs. A total of £127.50 was raised & donated to the campaign.
8th October 2003 A documentary on the safety issues of school bus transport was screened on S4C ( Taro Naw ). Stuart's Campaign played an active part in the making of the programme.
23rd October 2003 The BBC Radio Wales programme, The People's Assembly was held in Cowbridge, presented by Vaughan Roderick & questions answered by a panel of MP's & AM's. Chris Bryant - Labour, Simon Thomes - Plaid Cymru, David Melding - Conservative & Jenny Randerson - Lib Democrat were questioned by Stuart's Campaign on when they would be taking any direct policy action to change school bus transport.
13th November 2003 Stuart's Campaign has registered on the new online resource by the BBC which aims
to help people engage with local &civic life
to discuss the hot issues in their
area.
19th November 2003 Dr Chris Howard Chair of
Stuart's Campaign was present at the launch of The
National Association
Of Head Teachers policy to change school bus transport at
Westminster.
3rd December 2003 A Remembrance Carol Service was held at Ystradowen village green with over 300 people in attendance. The service was also covered by the BBC, Western Mail, South Wales Echo & The gem. Our thanks must be given to Mr Tony Holtam for the generous donation of a Christmas Tree to the village, JPL Sound for the sound system & Rev'd Richard Spencer for conducting the service .
19th December 2003 The Animal Health Division of the National Assembly For Wales had a collection at Christmas & have sent a donation of £35.00 to the campaign. Many thanks to all of those of you who contributed.
13th January 2004 Inquest held at Cardiff Coroners Court. Over the
following 5 days the jury listened to evidence from
several children, the bus driver, representatives from the bus operator EST and
Rob Quick (Director of Environmental & Economic regeneration, Vale Of Glamorgan
Council). The hearing drew out a number of
incidents which led up to the bus crash and oversights by all parties.
Under the guidance of Lawrence Addicott, the coroner, a verdict of accidental
death was returned by the jury.
Immediately after the verdict, in front of the assembled media, Stuart's
parents called upon the CPS to re-open the investigation into the cause of the
crash as they felt the evidence was overwhelming.
20th January 2004 BBC Radio Wales held a lunchtime phone-in on issues raised by the inquest. Such interest was generated the debate had to be extended to cater for the volume of calls. Amongst those present at the phone-in were John Smith M.P., Dr. Chris Howard, Chair of Stuart's Campaign & a spokesperson from the Vale of Glamorgan.
26th January 2004 CPS announce the intent to re-open the investigation into the cause of the crash.
30th January 2004 Coroner's letter issued to Vale of Glamorgan Council outlining recommendations from himself and the jury. Recommendations covered all the aims of the Campaign.
2nd February 2004 BBC Wales held an exclusive interview with Stuart's parents discussing the recent events and the personal impact felt by the evidence presented at the inquest.
3rd February 2004 Vale of Glamorgan Council take action and announce they intend to create a consultative committee to look into school transport.
11th February 2004 Stuart's Campaign receive an invitation from Vale of Glamorgan to sit on the consultative committee.
3rd March 2004 BUSK hold an all day seminar on Pupil behaviour on school buses. Representatives of bus companies, local authorities, National Assembly Members, schools & parents attended.
12th March 2004 Meeting with John Smith MP to discuss the progress in Parliament & the new school bus transport bill.
15th March 2004 Jane Hutt AM attended a meeting to inform the group of the progress in the National Assembly.
16th March 2004 Mr Steve Mudd of the Campaign Committee attends the initial meeting of the Vale Of Glamorgan consultative committee, chaired by Rob Quick.
23rd March 2004 The Annual General Meeting Of Stuart's Campaign was held at the village hall in Ystradowen. Reports were given by the Chair & Treasurer, all members of the general committee sort re-election. All were unanimously voted in to serve another term.
26th April 2004 Stuart's Campaign response to the Government Draft School Transport Bill was sent to the Transport Minister & to the National Assembly Of Wales.
29th April 2004 Letter received from Jane Hutt AM expressing concerns over the Vale Of Glamorgan's tender document still permitting the three for two rule in re-negotiated contracts. This matter would be taken up with Jane Davidson AM Minister Of Education & Life Long Learning.
5th May 2004 Letter received from Martin Blamey Chair Of Governors at Cowbridge School restating the schools position that after taking legal advise, they could not officially support the aims of Stuart's Campaign.
9th May 2004 Dr Chris Howard, Chair of Stuart's Campaign, gave evidence to the Education Committee as part of their review of the Draft School Transport Bill.
18th May 2004 Stuart's Campaign members attend the launch of a new school bus specifically designed by Skandia with children's safety very much in mind. The bus has been endorsed by BUSK, with the first purchase made by Newport Transport
19th May 2004 Stuart's Campaign members make a presentation on school transport to the National Assembly Of Wales Committee set up to review school transport policy. The presentation was covered by BBC Wales, HTV & several Local Radio stations & papers.
1st June 2004 Stuart's Campaign holds a question time debate, on school transport issues, in hall of the Duke Of Wellington, all parties standing in the local elections attended except the Conservative candidates. They declined the invite acting on legal advise from the Council. This advise we feel was floored as the discussions are on the future transport needs & not about the accident. The candidates were also standing as Conservative candidates & not Council members, & as Governors of Cowbridge School, they have a conflict of interest standing for election for the Council. If they follow the legal advise, then they cannot represent the views of their local electorate. Stuart's Campaign therefore suggest they reconsider their candidacy.
30th June 2004 Meeting with Peter Clarke (Children's Commissioner) to discuss his report into School Transport
8th July 2004 Meeting with Alan Cairns AM at his request to discuss the issues and aims of Stuart's Campaign.
20th July 2004 Meeting with John Smith MP & David Jamieson (DfT) re. concerns on draft Transport Bill. The draft bill doesn't include any safety procedures put forward by the Campaign.
28th July 2004 The cabinet meeting of the Vale of Glamorgan Council - adopted new school transport policies.
26th August 2004 Stuart's Campaign write to the Vale of Glamorgan condemning the new policy as a discriminatory two tier system and intended length of time to implement.
20th September 2004 Stuart's Campaign collaborates with BUSK and Principality Building Society to launch school bus safety video "It Won't Happen To Me... ... Will It" which highlights problems and issues with unruly behaviour on school buses. Full media coverage of the event.
4th October 2004 Meeting with Jane Hutt AM to urge to National Assembly Cabinet to watch the safety video and include it in the review of School bus transport. A helpline for concerned parents was also suggested to be included in the reveiw.
5th October 2004 Confirmation received from the South Wales Police that they are re-opening the criminal investigation into the bus accident.
19th October 2004 The Campaign received correspondence from Leanne Wood AM expressing support for the campaign & including correspondence written & received from Jane Davidson AM Minister for Education & Lifelong Learning.
11th November 2004 The Children's Commissioner For Wales Report on School Bus Transport was published. The report is available on www.childcom.org.uk/publications/As long as I get there safe.pdf
25th November 2004 The Campaign was contacted by parents in Weston Lincolnshire about a school bus accident in their area. The Campaign provided them with information & help in dealing with the authorities in their area.
29th November 2004 Meeting with Alan Cairns AM to discuss ways to re-enforce the message to Officials in The National Assembly & Vale Of Glamorgan Council.
6th January 2005 Bridgend County Borough Council in conjunction with Tinopolis Interactive launch a school bus safety video called "Your Life In Their Hands". The video was dedicated to the memory of Stuart.
9th February 2005 Draft report on the Review of School Transport by The National Assembly was submitted to The Education & Lifelong Learning Committee for comment & approval at the next meeting. The report is available on www.wales.gov.uk/assemblydata/N0000000000000000000000000028217.htm
1st March 2005 The Campaign issues its response to the above draft report ( See Report Page.)