School transpor sutiability / appeal

silvercar

kissmeimposh wrote: »

I don't think it is right that the Council force the child to attend a distant school and at the same time insist that it discharge it's transport OBLIGATION by sending the child alone in a taxi each and every day, where there is no precedent or experience or facility to accomodate a taxi at that school. The Council cannot have it both ways. Now that the child is in school, it is not right to force the child to change schools just to save the Council money. The Council is there to serve children's needs and fulfill the rights of children. Children are not supposed to do only what is most convenient for the Council.

There is a legal precedent for not forcing children to change schools. Years ago a council went to court to remove a child's place at a school. The child had been given a place at a school by lying on the application form (false address to be in the catchment area or similar). The court ruled that places could be withdrawn (when applications contained false information) upto the day the child started school. Once the child was in school, their interests were paramount and the place couldn't be taken away. This was years ago and I can't even remember where in the country it was, but the principle (but not the detail) is relevent. Once a child has started school the place can't be taken away.

I'm guessing that your child has started school and you initially made the journeys yourself and would now like the council to provide suitable transport as is their obligation?

kissmeimposh

Silvercar your guess is close but it's not merely that we "would like" the provision of transport. The Council has a legal obligation to provide suitable and safe transport for the child in this circumstance. We insist that the child enjoy this entitlement. It is not a bonus or request or exploitation of benefits. It is a legal obligation that the Council is avoiding by forcing the parents by circumstance and legitimate reasonable concerns to do the Councul's DUTY of providing transport. Forcing the child to be alone always in a taxi where the school is not equipped and was not prepared for it itself, is not acceptable or reasonable.

silvercar

kissmeimposh wrote: »

They are only willing to provide a taxi to take the young child alone each and every day, without any prior arrangment regarding replacement taxi driver when the main one can't make the journey, and the taxi company contact person has appeared particularly dubious. This is the only child at the school being asked to endure this, apparently on an experimental basis as the school itself has no previous experience school taxis. This is unsuitable, unacceptable and does not reflect the Council's legal duty to consider the child's age. The Council didn't bother to make this prospect known to the parents until just before the term began.

Keep pushing and one of three things will happen:

a) someone else will join the school and the council will then tell you that your child is not on their own and that your arguements are groundless,
b) they will tell the taxi driver to organise an escort (both CRB checked),
c) they will make a private car payment to you.

Realistically I can't see any other outcome. You need to decide which one yo want and push for that.

silvercar

kissmeimposh wrote: »

Silvercar your guess is close but it's not merely that we "would like" the provision of transport. The Council has a legal obligation to provide suitable and safe transport for the child in this circumstance. We insist that the child enjoy this entitlement. It is not a bonus or request or exploitation of benefits. It is a legal obligation that the Council is avoiding by forcing the parents by circumstance and legitimate reasonable concerns to do the Councul's DUTY of providing transport. Forcing the child to be alone always in a taxi where the school is not equipped and was not prepared for it itself, is not acceptable or reasonable.

Sorry, what I meant was that I imagined you were happy to take your child yourself for the first few days in order to meet the teacher/ see some other faces/ settle your child etc and now that the first few days have passed it is time for the council to meet its legal obligation.

To put it the other way round, you didn't require the council to fulfil its legal obligation for the first week of school as you wanted to be there yourself.:)

frugallass

kissmeimposh wrote: »

The Council has a legal obligation to provide suitable and safe transport for the child in this circumstance. We insist that the child enjoy this entitlement. It is not a bonus or request or exploitation of benefits. It is a legal obligation that the Council is avoiding by forcing the parents by circumstance and legitimate reasonable concerns to do the Councul's DUTY of providing transport. Forcing the child to be alone always in a taxi where the school is not equipped and was not prepared for it itself, is not acceptable or reasonable.

surely the council is carrying out it's obligation - it's providing the transport needed to get your child to school - what do you want them to do?

all your 'legal talk' is baffling me and I really don't understand what kind of a result you want from this

when your child eventually starts going to friends houses for tea, are you going to insist that the parents bringing him home are CRB checked? are you going to insist that they have a back-up plan in case their car breaks down on the way?

Bree

As far as I can see the council is carrying out it's obligation, by providing a taxi.
We live in a rural area and qualify for transport for all three schools that my children attend/attended. For schools, they have all been provided a coach. A couple of times some of my children have been the only one on the coach, prehaps because its last day of term or something. One child in our village had a taxi for a year because her dad had'nt relised that he had to reapply for a seat, when she changed school. By the time he applied the coach was offically full, so they provided a taxi.

kissmeimposh

frugallass wrote: »

surely the council is carrying out it's obligation - it's providing the transport needed to get your child to school - what do you want them to do?

I highly disagree. It's not only a question merely of getting the child to school. It needs to do so in a suitable, fair and reasonable way. It is not just a question of the vehicle itself but a question of other issues related to vulnerability, whether the school is equipped to acommodate this, whether any other children at the school or in the neighbourhood are similary using this type of service, whether the Council made it clear to the parents that this extreme measure would be forced upon their child when the Council allocated that particular school, etc..

frugallass wrote: »

all your 'legal talk' is baffling me and I really don't understand what kind of a result you want from this

I want a result where I do not have to be any less concerned for the safety and well-being of my child than any other parents, and where we do not have to do the Council's legal obligation of transport in the circumstance, and where the child will not be the only one in the entire neighbourhood and school who everyone sees is riding alone each and every day in a taxi.

frugallass wrote: »

when your child eventually starts going to friends houses for tea, are you going to insist that the parents bringing him home are CRB checked? are you going to insist that they have a back-up plan in case their car breaks down on the way?

No because that is an entirely different situation and also one that the Council has no legal obligation to facilitate. Where the Council does have a legal obligation to provide a suitable service I will indeed insist on it in the interests of my child, your child or any other child.

kissmeimposh

Bree wrote: »

As far as I can see the council is carrying out it's obligation, by providing a taxi.
We live in a rural area and qualify for transport for all three schools that my children attend/attended. For schools, they have all been provided a coach. A couple of times some of my children have been the only one on the coach, prehaps because its last day of term or something. One child in our village had a taxi for a year because her dad had'nt relised that he had to reapply for a seat, when she changed school. By the time he applied the coach was offically full, so they provided a taxi.

You're comparing apples and oranges. Coaches do not entail a young child riding alone in a taxi with nobody else. The occassional !!!!-up or unpreferred sitaution be its nature would very likely be random or unforseen and not allow anyone else whether driver, curbcrawler or sinister person to plan something untoward by noting a daily routine of lone little child in a cab.

How old was the child in your village who rode in a taxi for a year? Probably not very young if the child had already had the experience of beign transported.

Becles

kissmeimposh wrote: »

I want a result where I do not have to be any less concerned for the safety and well-being of my child than any other parents, and where we do not have to do the Council's legal obligation of transport in the circumstance, and where the child will not be the only one in the entire neighbourhood and school who everyone sees is riding alone each and every day in a taxi.

There's a disabled girl in my son's primary school who comes by taxi due to the nature of her mobility problems. As far as I know, she's the only one who arrives by taxi and has done since she started school.

It hasn't singled her out in anyway and don't think any of the other bairns have noticed to be honest.

The taxi pulls onto the school drive and a teacher is waiting to collect her and take her into school, then on an evening the teacher takes her out and makes sure she's in the taxi.

Her mother is pleased with the way it is working as it means her daughter is in a main stream school rather than a special school. She doesn't view all strangers as perverts though, and is thankful that the transport is there to help her.

kissmeimposh

Becles wrote: »

There's a disabled girl in my son's primary school who comes by taxi due to the nature of her mobility problems. As far as I know, she's the only one who arrives by taxi and has done since she started school.

It hasn't singled her out in anyway and don't think any of the other bairns have noticed to be honest.

The taxi pulls onto the school drive and a teacher is waiting to collect her and take her into school, then on an evening the teacher takes her out and makes sure she's in the taxi.

Her mother is pleased with the way it is working as it means her daughter is in a main stream school rather than a special school. She doesn't view all strangers as perverts though, and is thankful that the transport is there to help her.

Do not assume to know me or anyone else enough to imply that anyone views "all strangers as perverts". Cynical views and implications can be reciprocated towards you as well, if you do this. Don't dare insult others with pompous assumptions of others' views where no such thing has been stated.

Lucky that the school layout has a school drive that enables the taxi not to endanger children but there is no need for the mother to be "thankful" where it is a legal obligation of the Council to provide suitable transport.

Maybe on the balance the parents decided that the emotional or social risks of her not attending a mainstream school is in her case worth the risk that something untoward will happen to her.

How old is this girl?