Children have ‘nightmares’ at being left at wrong stop

Mother received ‘awful phone call’ Council respond

A mother has told how her young children have been having nightmares after they were dropped at the wrong stop by the school bus in Fife. Annie Buist, from Cardenden, is calling for answers following the incident. She said she received an “awful phone call” at work in which she was told her six year-old daughter and five year-old son were missing and that police had been called.

It emerged the Stagecoach driver had dropped the children in the Dundonald area, about two miles from their usual stop, on 17 January.

Fife Council described it as a “worrying” incident and said they had amended their practices. Stagecoach said they had worked with the council to introduce a new process.

Mrs Buist told BBC Scotland: “My son was screaming by the side of a main road whilst my daughter was frantically trying to wave down drivers in passing cars to help her.

“Thankfully a seven-yearold boy persuaded them not to walk and took them to his grandparents’ house where, after a series of conversations, they were then passed to the police at the bus stop where they should have got off.” Mrs Buist added: “Since the incident, my children have not settled in school, are having nightmares and are constantly worried.

“I need answers as to why this happened. I have been told that the same thing happened again with another pupil on Monday.

“Something is not right and the education department needs to raise awareness so that the children know what protocol is in place if it does.”

Fife Council said they had taken action to address the issue.

Education officer Rona Maclean-ross said: “This was a worrying incident and we want to ensure that both the council and the bus company learn from this. As a result, an amended bus driver checklist for all pupils boarding the school bus is now being filled out by the school to confirm children’s drop-off points for the driver, in an additional attempt to ensure they do not miss any stops on their route.

“Stagecoach has also confirmed that, as an interim measure, their drivers will stop at every bus stop on this particular route until we are satisfied that the checklist is shown to work effectively.”

Stagecoach East Scotland’s David Frenz said: “We were very concerned when this was brought to our attention and want to make sure that it cannot happen again.”