Call made for bus escorts

Newport council has failed to put an adult supervisor on three of four city buses serving the school.

Parent Teacher Association member Caryl Davies, from Brynglas, said her children, Wil, four, and Alis, seven, often catch the school bus and need supervision.

She said: "Some of the children are only four. They' re 50-seater coaches and the only adult is the driver."

Mrs Davies said an escort must be provided because there had been incidents when drivers got off the bus and left the children unsupervised.

She said a driver missed a stop and had to walk some children back, leaving other pupils alone on the bus.

And a windscreen fault meant a driver had to leave youngsters alone while he checked the vehicle.

Mrs Davies added: "There are also times when children get off at the wrong stops. There's no one on the bus checking at the bus stop if the child is going with the right parent."

A fleet of five buses serve the Welsh medium school Ysgol Gymraeg Casne-wydd: four run in Newport and a fifth covers Monmouthshire. One of the Newport buses has a chaperone, but bus operator 2 Travel said it is under no contractual obligation to provide supervision.

David Fowls, operations director at 2 Travel, said: "We want supervision on the buses. The driver cannot keep his eyes on the road and the children."

He said 2 Travel had advertised widely for bus supervisors but had received only one response, and that person is now working on a Newport route.

Alan Stubbersfield, head of education inclusion at Newport council, said: "We have made it clear to the company that as part of the service they are providing we want escorts to be employed and will cover the cost of providing these.

"We remain committed to providing escorts on these routes and if the company fails to employ enough, we will look at other options."

A spokesman for Monmouthshire council said: "We do not provide escorts as a matter of course. Only for those with special needs."