Hi All,

My 5 year old was going on his first school trip, There are 19 kids in the class and so the school decided it would be a good idea to use 2 of the teachers own cars as the mini bus was full. My child ended up in the back seat with 2 other children with no booster/child seats. The car was a 02 Clio with non standard alloy wheels and driven by an older teacher.

We are not impressed and have approached the school head teacher who was very sorry.

My Q is what is the law surrounding the transportation of school children??????????


Thanks Nick

P.S this is my first post.....

First of all I would be worried to see if they had proper insurance.

You can get it easy enough, when my mother was a teacher she paid for it.

But if the child is small it needs a booster seat.

Edit... Just realised your child was 5, I would be rather annoyed and would want it in writing that this would not happen again.

Teachers can get insurance cover for transporting students but it is something that you have to ask your insurance company for. Anyone transporting students during school time would also need to be CRB checked but if the driver was a teacher then this wouldn't be an issue!

I sat on the back seat of a car when i was a child without a booster seat

I died

Twice on a tuesday

So, are you going to sue the school for the years of therapy the child will need to recover from the trauma of their Clio related ordeal?

I spent quite a few journeys in the boot of a volvo estate in my childhood (friend's parents, not a teacher). I am still alive, barely.

Oh incidentally, the law regarding the transportation of school children is thus:

If the teacher has appropriate insurance, and transports the child in a suitable manner, they are insured.

If they don't then they probably aren't. Without prejudice, I'd suggest that they lapsed in not transporting those children with a booster seat, however:

You have no head of damages. Case closed.

By the way, did your child enjoy the trip?

I read the title expecting to hear about some school using impreza p1's as transport. I was going to sign my daughter up straight away!

This, pretty much. That said, I'm sure there'd be a reasonable legal argument as per 'in loco parentis' if there was a dire emergency - would be an interesting court case.

Well said

Next time draw names from a hat and tell the unlucky 3 that they cant go because some parents complained last time.
I would tell the class whose parents it was too.

Think yourself lucky. I used to stand in the passenger footwell of me dad's Maxi, peeping over the dashboard, and can remember being killed at least six times in 1976.



To the OP, relax, chillout and be thankful that your kid's school has helpful teachers like that. I'm sure there was tests done in the States that showed that kids at booster seat age were no more likely to be killed or injured if they were wearing an adult seatbelt without a booster.

Motoring highlight of my primary school years was getting an occasional lift in a female teacher's MR2 to the local ski slopes...

Ducking down in the back of other parent's estate boots at approaching police was fun too...

Should I be lucky to be alive?