Politician reports council to Ofsted over bus wait

Changes to school transport were implemented for the Autumn term

A councillor has reported her own authority to Ofsted over concerns about the safety of students with special needs.

Independent Hayley Whitaker's complaint came after changes were made to school transport services in central Bedfordshire.

She said pupils with special educational needs had been waiting at school for four hours, without the right support in place, before a bus came to collect them.

A senior Central Bedfordshire Council officer has apologised for the "disruption" to the students' transport.

Central Bedfordshire's children's services scrutiny committee heard on Tuesday that changes to school transport had been implemented for this year's autumn term.

Mark Tripp, who chairs the governing body of Ivel School and College in Biggleswade and was speaking as a parent, said some pupils had been "at home on Monday morning not knowing when, and how, or even if, they would be collected."

The students did not have appropriately trained staff with them, he added.

They were picked up, but a lack of communication had made the students anxious while they waited.

Students at Ivel Valley School and College were left without transport for four hours

Worse was to come when it was time for the pupils to go home, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Tripp said: "Imagine their horror when they found out, because of a Central Bedfordshire Council policy change, there was only one pick-up at 16:30.

"When your course finishes at 12:30, there's a four-hour wait to go home to their safe place."

Hayley Whitaker reported the school to Ofsted

Whitaker, a former deputy leader of the council, contacted senior officers a week ago to tell them she intended to complain to schools regulator Ofsted.

She said: "Every single child has to be treated differently.

"That's what failed here."

She told the scrutiny committee that parents were left not knowing if the policy required them to make new requests for transport, or if their children had just been lost in the system.

'No response'

Whitaker said the council had known for 10 days that "we were going to have young people left unattended with no support for four hours".

She threatened to report the council to Ofsted if the problem was not rectified.

She said: "I got no response and so I did."

Amana Gordon, the director of children's services, apologised for the lack of response to Whitaker.

She added that she had also apologised to parents "for the experience of those children who had disruption to their transport".