Father refuses to let his children on buses until seatbelts are fitted

Father-of-two James Williams, from Litton Cheney, labelled the Damory School bus taking children from the Bride Valley to the Sir John Colfox School ‘completely unacceptable’ because of its age and because it has no seatbelts.

He said he would be refusing to let his children use the bus until seatbelts are fitted.

He said at least three children sustained injuries in the accident which happened on the Long Bredy to Litton Cheney road in December.

He said the price of fitting seatbelts retroactively is £25 per child.

He said: “That’s the value of a child’s safety. The operators could fit them and protect the children from injury or death.”

He said the school, local authority and bus contractor had a ‘duty of care’ to the pupils which was not being met.

He added: “Our children are currently being transported on a route that is 20 miles long.

“Damory are using an urban shuttle bus that has no seatbelts or lap restraints whatsoever.

“As parents we are expecting a duty of care for the safe transport of our children to school.

“It’s being done with buses that are vintage 1998 and have no means of retraining of children to prevent them having injuries in the event of an accident.

“Is that acceptable?

“There was an accident on the route just before Christmas that resulted in injuries to three children, all of which were sustained because they were not strapped in.

“They involved head injuries, knee injuries and children falling onto the floor.

“We are going to refuse to let our children go on the bus because of the danger until seatbelts are provided on a suitable bus.”

He said he thought the ultimate responsibility was the school’s and head teacher Kay Taylor should refuse to let the children get on a bus with no seatbelts.

He also blamed Dorset County Council for not insisting contractor Damory had seatbelts on all its buses. He added: “It is the school’s ultimate responsibility to make sure the children are transported safely. The parents have no idea in their wildest nightmare that their children are being transported on a bus that had no seatbelts. They like me are in blissful ignorance.

“If I was a parent and turned up at the school gate in a vehicle with my children not strapped in the back seat I would be breaking the law.

“It beggars the question why is it not acceptable for parents to transport their children in a vehicle when they are not strapped in yet it is quite acceptable it would appear to transport tens and tens of our school children.

“There appears to be appalling dual standards going on.”

To make matters worse, he said, the route includes the A35 with its strong cross winds, and frequent low cloud and fog.

“There have been numerous accidents including fatalities along this stretch in recent times,” added Mr Williams.

Councillor Peter Finney,cabinet member for environment and the economy, said: “Many buses that operate school routes are also used on public bus routes, and public buses with more than 16 seats are not legally obli-ged to provide seatbelts to carry adults or children.

“We apply stringent criteria to the procurement of all our passenger transport services.

“We have not specified the provision of seatbelts as, to have done so, it would have excluded many companies from tendering for council passenger transport routes. There is also no legal requirement to have buses of a certain age in use but they do have to meet safety standards and of course VOSA would take the buses off the road if they were unsafe. However, in view of parents’ concerns, future contracts on this route will require the vehicle to be fitted with seatbelts.

“We have been working closely with our main contractor Dam-ory Coaches and now have an agreement in place that vehicles serving first and primary schools have seatbelts.

“Coaches on school work are also required to provide seatbelts.”

Damory operations manager Adam Keen said: “When the contract was tendered some years ago and subsequently awarded we supplied and quoted with a bus that they asked for and as such the bus we supply meets their tender requirements.”

He added: “We have been told that when the tender is re-let in the next two years there will be a requirement for seatbelts to be provided.”

The head teacher of Sir John Colfox School Kay Taylor said: “The school works closely with Dorset County Council to ensure that all safety requirements on transport are met.

“Clearly there is a particular issue here which is a concern to the parents involved and the school will be meeting with the relevant parties for further discussions.”