BUSK links up with two bereaved parents for new safety calls on keeping pupils safe when being driven in school minibuses
A new safety campaign concerned with transporting children in school minibuses is being planned by BUSK.
It launches on 18 November, exactly 25 years after 12 Worcestershire school pupils and their teacher who was driving them in a minibus were killed when the vehicle crashed on the M40.
Liz and Steve Fitzgerald, whose 13-year-old daughter Claire was one of the fatalities, have joined forces with BUSK on the campaign to highlight continuing concerns about the safety of school transport for children.
As reported in minibus (November 2018), a particular focus will be on teachers acting as minibus drivers and schools needing to be on a ‘level playing field’ with commercial firms in terms of standards.
“In BUSK’s view, teachers should be fully qualified if they are going to drive pupils in a school-owned minibus and work to the same standards and meet all the legal requirements of an O-licence holder,” says Pat Harris, BUSK’s founder and Director.
“We want to deal with the root cause of that crash 25 years ago and highlight the fact that some things haven’t changed,” she explains, adding that it is a BUSK campaign motivated by what the Fitzgeralds say and their vision for the future of students being driven in minibuses.
In a statement, the Fitzgeralds reveal they are facing the M40 minibus crash’s 25th anniversary “with immense sadness, naturally, but also with incredulity and frustration.”
Partly in response to the accident, legislation had changed requiring the fitting and wearing of seatbelts. Crew-type minibuses have also been banned from carrying children, while many schools have improved training for teachers acting as drivers, the Fitzgeralds acknowledge.
“However, while important, none of these improvements address the principal cause of the accident, i.e. long and stressful working hours for teachers who act as ‘volunteer’ drivers,” they say.
- To read a full version of the article, visit: www.miniplus.co.uk/articles.features/School_minibuses_25_years_after_the_M40_crash
