Commenting on Serious Lapse in Council's Duty of Care When Nursery School Pupil Was Left Stranded on School Bus

I was very concerned by the news that last week a three year old nursery pupil with additional support needs, who attends the Francis Wright Nursery, had been left unattended on their school bus. Apparently this young boy was left alone on a minibus which had delivered the other children to the nursery and then was returned to the contractor's garage. The wee lad apparently remained strapped into his seat and undetected for a number of hours until a driver returned to take the bus back to the nursery for the return journeys.

This was a very serious lapse in the Council's duty of care to one of our youngest children at nursery.

I have been in immediate contact with, Michael Wood, The Director of Children and Families' Service, who has assured me that an inquiry has already been launched. I made it clear that we need to know how it was that this child was left on the bus and how he was not missed when he did not turn up at the nursery. Clearly parents and carers and Councillors, who are corporate parents, need to be reassured that such a serious lapse in child protection procedures will be avoided in the future.