Transport

May 2012

In order to be able to raise member concerns direct with Passenger Transport Services (PTS), Positive Parents have set up a Transport Discussion Group. Our first meeting was held recently during which the following issues were raised:

Transport Care Plans: Risk Assessments:

Positive Parents are concerned that our children are entrusted to staff who know very little about them and wouldn’t know how to cope in the event of an incident occurring. We have requested that each child travelling with PTS should have a Transport Care Plan. The plan would provide important information including contact details, health, medication and behaviour issues. PTS were in full agreement and advised us that they have been requesting the introduction of such plans for several years but that only Ravensbourne School were using them.

Positive Parents are happy to produce Transport Care Plans for members but in order to ensure that all passengers have a plan produced we have written to the Council to request that they are produced centrally.

We have asked to be involved in ensuring that Risk Assessments for each bus are completed fully with all risks assessed and control measures communicated to PTS staff. This would once again allow for PTS staff to be more informed of what to do should any incident occur.

It was agreed that Risk Assessments would be discussed once the completed Transport Care Plans had been received.

Staff Training:

Positive Parents would like PTS staff to receive more training and be better informed regarding communication and behavioural issues.

This will be re-visited when the Transport Care Plans have been completed and training needs identified.

Other Issues:

Larger Coaches Correct Use of Seatbelts

Members had raised concerns as to why such big coaches were being used to transport our children and whether this would lead to more children being placed on the buses for each journey.

We were advised that the coaches had been purchased for other uses throughout the day such as taking primary school children swimming and were a source of revenue enabling costs to be kept to a minimum. Although they are being utilised to take our young people to school we were assured by PTS that the numbers on them will not increase and there will not be any cuts in the number of buses already being used.

Safety concerns were raised that children are not being seatbelted correctly before buses move off from the side of the road and not all escorts are supervising and checking that seatbelts are secured correctly during the course of the journey. We were assured that PTS take safety extremely seriously and they have promised to address both issues.

Both Positive Parents and Passenger Travel Services are fully committed to working together to ensure that our children are transported happily and safely and we have agreed to meet regularly. We would like to hear your views and any issues that you feel need to be addressed by email to info@positiveparentshavering.org.uk

April 2012

TRANSPORT DISCUSSION GROUP

Positive Parents are currently in the process of setting up a Transport Discussion Group and meetings will be held on a termly basis with members of Passenger Transport. If you have any issues that you would like discussed then please contact us.