Article: Children still being left at bus stops by Brisbane City Council drivers

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From the Courier Mail click here!

Children still being left at bus stops by Brisbane City Council drivers

Children still being left at bus stops by Brisbane City Council drivers

   * Ursula Heger
   * From: The Courier-Mail
   * October 09, 2010 12:01AM

ALMOST one complaint is made every weekday about a child being left behind by a bus in Brisbane.

Figures released under Right to Information laws show 208 complaints were made to Brisbane City Council last year about drivers who either refused, or failed, to pick up children.

As a result, 29 drivers were reprimanded after investigation of the complaints. Four of those drivers were dismissed.

A further 102 cases were unable to be verified, or the statements made on behalf of the child and by the driver were conflicting so no action was taken.

The Courier-Mail revealed last year that a 10-year-old girl had been told to get off the bus in Mt Gravatt because she did not have enough money, while a 14-year-old boy was left behind in Carina because the driver refused to break a $20 note. In both cases the driver was disciplined.

The cases breached the strict "no child left behind" policy for bus drivers across the southeast, which states that no children should be refused entry to a bus regardless of whether they have sufficient money for the trip.

There were 6670 complaints in total made last year about driver behaviour, including 1260 for rudeness or aggression, 249 for using an incorrect route, 33 for smoking and 25 for discriminatory behaviour.

BCC said that, of the complaints involving children being left behind, 12 were found to be because the driver took the incorrect route and 24 were because the bus was full.

In 27 of the cases, the driver was found to have acted correctly.

Public and Active Transport chair Margaret De Wit said BCC took reports of children being left behind very seriously.

"Everyone makes mistakes, but we take a very dim view of any driver making these sorts of mistakes - that's why we are very thorough in these investigations," she said.

"Our operators receive very extensive training, which repeatedly addresses the issue of not leaving children behind. They get presentations, they watch movies, they get issued copies of manuals they must have with them, induction class goes through it thoroughly and they get refresher training."

She said the four drivers who had been dismissed were previously warned about their behaviour.

Opposition leader Shayne Sutton said it was disgraceful that any child was being left behind.

"It's supposed to be council policy that no child is left behind at a bus stop," she said.

"That is unacceptable and it must stop."