Schools sending kids to classes by taxi - paid for by us!
Schools sending kids to classes by taxi - paid for by us!
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Discussion

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,747 posts

274 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
quotequote all
In a taxi in Leeds the other day. Cabbie was telling me how his firm has a contract with the education authority ferrying kids around. I thought it may have been ferrying sick kids to hospital or similar.

The school in question, Lawnswood High School, is one of these specialist schools (Maths and Computing) and some kids subjects are taught off site, so the children are driven by Taxi to another site for little Johhnie to do basic car mechanics or whatever, and then driven back in a taxi. How can a school justify the cost of sending children off site for lessons by taxi?

Surely, if they cannot undertake the teaching on site they don't offer the course.

Shame they can't spend this money teaching them how to read and write!


EDLT

15,421 posts

230 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Are you sure he wasn't exaggerating, maybe he just carries the special kids around.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,747 posts

274 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
quotequote all
Nope. Kids taken to a car mechanics class, some taken to a technical college elsewhere for some drafting/tech drawing thing..

just another waste of money. As before, just teach the kids to count, read and write as a bare minimum.

odyssey2200

18,650 posts

233 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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That is nothing new.

What I was at school in the 80s we had the option of 1/2 day a week at the local Technical college to study all sorts of subjects including Motor Vehicle Engineering to CSE level.

Every Tuesday the school ran a full sized coach the 11 miles to College and back again at lunch time.

thetrash

1,857 posts

230 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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You've only just heard of this?

Pickled Piper

6,450 posts

259 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Why is it an issue? If the school is responsible for getting them to lessons then they find the most economical way to do it.

It's hardly news.

pp

monman321

220 posts

195 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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It's been happening for years taxis to take kids to school or college, you would be suprised just how much some councils spend on transport. I have been a cabbie for 22 years and remember one company I worked for in Manchester being paid £18,000 per quarter for the contracts they covered, and it's not always special needs transport which is fair enough, a lot of it is Social Services work for bone idle parents too fat to walk their tribe to school.

I work nights, always have, give me four p****d up punters anytime rather than someone elses screaming brats anyday.

nonegreen

7,803 posts

294 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Ha ha I am loving this. Schools and social services are nearly always special needs. There is a hospital near me that spends nearly 1M on taxis to replace ambulances and to get rid of the mithering druggies and other assorted losers that finish up in A&E cos they are lonely and have nowhere else to go. Last weeekend one of these parasites rode his bike to hospital and then insisted he discherge himself so the hospital ordered a minibus to take him and his bike home. Hospitals move patients hundreds of miles by taxi. But then of course if a private helicopter is needed for Prince Andrew and his business development missions then a taxi home from hospital for a chav at the other end of the specrum is clearly not unexpected. Senior civil servants have accounts with taxi ccompanies. biggrin

W124Bob

1,856 posts

199 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Yes brother inlaw has a similar experience(supply teaching),some crusty tree huggers get their kids taken to school from their tepee/loghut or home to school and free laptops as a bonus!

Jasandjules

72,028 posts

253 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Think that's bad, take a look at the Taxi bill of the Govt "Climate Change" department..............

nonegreen

7,803 posts

294 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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Jasandjules said:
Think that's bad, take a look at the Taxi bill of the Govt "Climate Change" department..............
Which one? I thought they were all "Department of Blah blah and climate change" now.

Morningside

24,147 posts

253 months

Sunday 28th February 2010
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It been going on for many, many years. Some children in outlining areas are beyond the normal bus service so they lay on a taxi.
These children are mainly trouble makers and cannot travel with the normal ones as they do not turn up, skip the bus or just cause trouble.
Other children ferried about are ones with mental or psychical problems they cannot travel using a normal bus.

As the child must have an education they have to be taken by taxi and it is filtered into the travel budget.

7mike

3,201 posts

217 months

Monday 1st March 2010
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Now, just hypothetically; imagine someone had managed to convince their kid's school that they were entitled to a taxi to get them there. Now imagine that parent was a private hire driver, can only do a limited number of hours work per week because of patental responsibilities etc so is claiming income support (or whatever other benefits they are 'entitled' to). Now imagine if that parent were the taxi driver contracted to take their own kids to school!.

Just as well we live in a country where that would never happenscratchchin