A school has lodged a complaint against a coach company after footage emerged of a driver’s expletive-filled rant to schoolchildren.
And why was he abusing the cerubic little passengers?
In the video seen by the BBC, a man believed to be the coach driver is heard accusing children of not wearing a seatbelt and smoking on the bus.
Heh! Surely not? Well, when they are out of their teacher's sight...
Oh, wait!
Gill Lane, whose child was onboard the coach on 11 July, said there were seven teachers on the coach at the time of the incident, which happened halfway through a four-hour journey. “The teachers' job is to keep our children safe and to manage them on the coach,” she said. "And on this occasion, they failed our children.
“I don’t know if I can keep my children at the school because I don’t know if I can trust them to keep them safe.”
Well, I'd say the answer is no, you can't. Especially if they did nothing to ensure they put their seatbelts on and didn't smoke.
Wise Coaches, based in Hailsham, said the pupils had been “disruptive”, but the driver no longer worked for the company as of the day after the incident.
Why sack him? Just because he tried to instil some discipline that the teachers couldn't?
The school said staff on the trip had attempted to reason with the coach driver and asked him to moderate his language and behaviour.
But did nothing about the behavior of their pupils? Sounds to me like there should be more sackings. At the school!
IIRC the driver of a vehicle is legally responsible for ensuring that all passengers are wearing seatbelts (where fitted). I think the same now applies to smoking. So what he should have done is stop the bus and give them the choice: 1) do as you're told or 2) get off and walk...
ReplyDeleteIt is not often that I travel by coach, on the last occasion the driver pleaded with us to wear our seatbelts as he is responsible and could lose his job if we didn't. As he is the "captain" of the ship he has overall command, the teachers there to assist him. He should be praised and protected by his employers and the teachers should be taught their responsibilities, or sacked.
ReplyDelete"IIRC the driver of a vehicle is legally responsible for ensuring that all passengers are wearing seatbelts (where fitted)."
ReplyDeleteCorrect, and that's absolutely what I'd have done. The teachers as well!
"He should be praised and protected by his employers and the teachers should be taught their responsibilities, or sacked."
Yes, pretty weak response by the firm, but no doubt they don't want to lose the contract.