Behaviour on School Buses

BOROUGH OF POOLE

TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP – 15 APRIL 2004

REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

ON BEHAVIOUR ON SCHOOL BUSES

1. Purpose and Policy Context

1.1 The Borough of Poole organises school and college transport for pupils and students entitled to transport assistance under the Council’s policies. It also provides support for local bus services carrying non-entitled children. Poor behaviour on these services could jeopardise the safety of passengers and other road users, result in expensive damage to vehicles and deter passengers from using such services.

2. R ecommendations

2.1 Members are recommended to support the current and proposed actions to address the problem of poor behaviour on school buses.

2.2 Members are also asked to consider whether any further action is required from the suggestions in Paragraph 6.

3. Information

3.1In December 2002 a 12-year-old boy died in a school bus crash because another boy fell and grabbed the steering wheel. The boy who died was travelling to school on the top deck of a double-decker bus in the Vale of Glamorgan. The driver reported that he had already been forced to stop because of dangerous behaviour and children had been fighting close to his cab.

3.2A 14-year-old pupil had been messing around on the bus, including sounding the horn to say hello to his friends, when the accident happened. The 12-year-old died when the bus carrying 72 children careered off the road and hit a tree.

3.3The bus operator told the inquest into the death that he had complained about unruly behaviour on several occasions over a three-month period. In his view an escort should be provided for troublesome routes. The Local Education Authority are currently consulting with parents to establish a way forward.

3.4Poor behaviour on school buses in Poole appears to be less of a problem than in many other areas of the country. There are occasional reports of incidents on school buses received in the Passenger Transport Office and most are dealt with in co-operation with the school involved. This may involve the suspension of the miscreant from the bus service. It is likely, however, that many incidents go unreported, either by the driver to his employer or by the bus company to the Council.

1 3.5Wilts & Dorset Bus Company operate the majority of bus services carrying Poole students to school and college. A recent meeting with the bus operator on the subject of school bus behaviour established the following:

(a) Most incidents are considered to be “high spirits” and are generally not considered to be serious. (b) There is not a great deal of vandalism. (c) Smoking is the biggest issue, bad language and spitting are also observed. (d) It is much easier to identify children entitled to transport assistance as they carry a bus pass. (e) Drivers may not have time to report incidents. (f) Drivers may assume that no action is taken when they do report incidents and may then not bother reporting future incidents. (g) Use of regular drivers and driver attitude can make a difference. (h) BUSK (Belt Up School Kids) campaign group are devising a simple system (tick box report) to assist drivers notifying incidents. (i) Powers include banning from transport (temporary for entitled children, usually involving the school, although it is necessary to take account of the LEA statutory requirement for school attendance so this is not always straightforward). (j) The newest Wilts & Dorset buses are fitted with CCTV cameras. (k) Transportation Services issue a Code of Conduct for Pupils and their Parents/Carers to entitled children when bus passes are sent out. (l) Wilts & Dorset have produced training videos on the subject and behaviour is included in their parent company’s Education Resource Pack (The Go-Ahead Group).

3.6Shamrock Buses is the second largest school transport operator in the Borough with services to Broadstone Middle School, Corfe Hills School and both of the grammar schools. They recently reported problems with one of their double- decker bus services operating between Merley and Broadstone Middle School. This involved pupils standing and leaning against windows on the upper deck, bag throwing – including close to the driver’s cab, and bullying.

3.7Broadstone Middle School responded very positively to the report and have spoken to pupils both on and off the bus. As a result of this there has been a considerable improvement in behaviour on the service. Shamrock Buses report only minor and infrequent incidents on their other services.

4. Poole Crime Prevention Panel

4.1Poole Crime Prevention Panel is a voluntary organisation whose members are drawn from the local community. Its purpose is to work in partnership with Dorset Police, the Borough of Poole and other agencies in encouraging greater public participation in the prevention of crime and in providing education, information and practical assistance to the community.

4.2The Panel has been considering the issue of poor behaviour on school buses and has written to all the Middle, Combined and Secondary Schools in Poole asking for a ‘hotline’ to be set up to a designated teacher to enable incidents to

2 be reported in confidence. The panel is also encouraging Wilts & Dorset Bus Company to brief their drivers and encourage them to make full reports. The Panel’s view is that parents have the prime responsibility for the behaviour of their children at all times.

4.3The Chairman of the Panel will be meeting with Transportation Services officers to discuss the matter when the responses are received from the schools.

5. Proposed Action

5.1 Nick Ellis, School Travel Plan Co-ordinator, will incorporate the issue of school bus behaviour into the talks he undertakes at schools. He may also be able to make use of the Go-Ahead Education Resource pack which provides very useful teaching material. It is important that a good working relationship is established with the schools to resolve situations of poor behaviour.

5.2 Nick Ellis will visit the Wilts & Dorset depot to talk directly with drivers about the issue of poor behaviour and encourage them to report incidents. This could be extended to other operators if required.

5.3 BUSK have been contacted with a view to using their simplified driver reporting procedure.

5.4 It is recognised that the reaction of the driver can have a significant bearing on situations of poor behaviour. Some drivers are better able to handle a situation than others are and appropriate training can help. The Council will investigate the availability of driver training material.

5.5 Wilts and Dorset have agreed to consider introducing a cash award for the “Best behaved school bus of the year”.

6. Further Action for Consideration

(a) Provision of Escorts on school buses The employment of escorts on school buses can ensure passengers remain seated, use seatbelts (where fitted), and are generally well behaved. There are no escorts currently employed for “mainstream” school transport although temporary enumerator staff are used from time to time, principally for survey purposes.

Approximately 45 Escorts, or Passenger Assistants, are already employed by the Council on some routes for the supervision of pupils with special needs. The nature of the work – small number of hours, 190 days a year only and little flexibility on leave arrangements – together with the relatively low rate of pay, makes recruitment and retention difficult.

There are approximately 40 buses carrying the Borough’s school children (695 entitled to transport assistance – the number of non-entitled fare- payers is not available). To provide an escort on each of these buses for 3 hours per day would cost approximately £157,000 per annum.

3 Employing this number of additional escorts would be difficult in the current economic climate. An alternative could be to employ a handful of escorts and rotate them between routes (5 escorts would cost just under £20,000 per annum).

(b) Use of parents as “volunteer” escorts Escorts would need to be “police checked” by the Criminal Records Bureau”. There are also issues of insurance and responsibility for the actions of the parent.

(c) Closed-circuit TV Although effective at deterring poor behaviour and identifying culprits after the event, these systems can be expensive to retro-fit (up to £3,000 per bus). Wilts & Dorset’s new vehicles are supplied with CCTV already fitted.

JAMES T BRIGHT Head of Transportation Services

Background Information

Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact John McVey (01202) 262221

2 March 2004 TAG150404T3B