Taxi Driver Online

This disabled boy has to sit in a taxi for 30mins each day after school and his parents aren't happy



A SWANSEA dad has blasted Swansea Council because his disabled son has to wait for half an hour in a taxi outside his home every day after school.

Chris Rosser said that the council will no longer drop his son - who attends a special education unit at Penllergaer Primary School - off outside Sketty Primary School, where his partner has to be to collect their other children, at home times and insists on taking the 7-year-old to their home in Cockett where he is forced to wait on board until the others get home.

Mr Rosser is now calling for common sense to prevail saying his son, who has an undiagnosed condition that prevents him from walking, talking and standing, is facing extra stress through being forced to sit in the taxi each day on his own instead of being taken to meet his family - as has been the practice for the last five years.

He said: "He has to wait outside the house in the taxi for half an hour every day until my partner gets home with our other children. It's not making things easier and my son has been getting stressed over it all."

Between them Mr Rosser and his partner Michelle have five children. The concerned father said the council has only recently insisted on dropping Aidan off at his home and not his siblings' school, claiming the move has come after he lodged a complaint that after his youngest son was refused a place in Sketty Primary School.

He said: "For the past five years Aidan, who is in Penllergaer school, gets picked up and met at Sketty with Michelle and all the other children. Now the council is stating that Aidan can only be dropped off at home and not another school.

"If I hadn't of complained about my other son not being allowed to go to Sketty they would never have objected to this."

A spokeswoman for the council pointed out that it was following Welsh Government guidelines.

She said: ""This is an unusual situation in which the child's parent wants the SEN home to school transport service to pick up her child from one school and drop them off at another school. We are still in discussions with her about this.

"However, the home to school transport service operates within guidelines set out by the Welsh Government. They're designed with children's safety as the top priority and mean that our role is to ensure the child is safely picked-up from their home in the morning and safely returned to their home at the end of the school day.

"By applying the guidelines appropriately any potential confusion about the purpose of the service can be avoided. More importantly, parents and the council can be completely confident children are dropped off safely at home after the school day."


Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk ... z4JyEEY6Yk

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Either more to this than meets the eye, or officialdom gone mad.

Maybe both.

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IDFIMH

It all depends on the the distances these days. If rhe distance to home is say 4 miles and the distance to the other school is say 5 miles then the County Council will not fund the wxtra cost of the transport. it is as simple as that. You may find that the company doing the transport don't even charge for the waiting time.

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Grandad,

What would happen if the TAXI went to the school and the parent was not there,would they be expected to run around looking for the parent.
Most home to school contracts stipulate the address of pick up and drop off points,normally if there is not a parent at the home address at the appointed time of drop off driver has to get in touch wioth social services or school transport and ask for instructions where to take the child.If the child is then taken to an appointed place it is the parents responsibility to get the child home.
If this was to happen on a regular basis they would ensure that there was a responsible adult at the home address to receive the child from the Taxi on return from school.

ffs how far away is the school her other kids go to? why wont she just pick him up THEN go to the school for the other kids,surely it cant be 30 mins away ? but no, that would mean they have to do something when they can get it for nothing

I bet they've got a Motability car but use it to pick the other kids up.

probably & a nice monthly pay packet coming in also due to the disabled bairn, but .... well... owt for nowt just kicked in hate the scratters me tbh