Safer Travel for Bus Operators

The Safer Travel Team greatly appreciate all that our bus operators and drivers do and we are well aware that providing school transport can, at times, be a testing job.  We know we couldn't do it without you, so thank you all for your hard work and commitment.

As well as going into schools with an educational programme and dealing with problem pupils one of the main objectives of the Safer Travel team is to support the bus operators and drivers that are contracted by LCC for school transport.  We want to know about your problems and will do whatever we can help.

We are keen to promote our on-line reporting form to drivers and feel it is an invaluable tool in assisting drivers in their jobs.  The system makes sorting problem students out a quicker process so bus companies and drivers get the results and the support they need.

In addition, we are offering a short and informal presentation for drivers.  These presentations give drivers the opportunity to talk about any problems they may be having while working school contracts and offer tips on dealing with confrontational and unruly pupils.  Our goal is to make a positive impact on the safety and behaviour of the pupils that travel on your vehicles and on the job satisfaction of the drivers.

If you would like the Safer Travel Team to come and speak to your drivers or you have any enquiries then please feel free to contact us at any time, the sooner the better!

If you’re having problems on one of your school contracts the Safer Travel team can offer assistance by riding on the bus.  We’ve found that doing this helps to show to those that are causing the problems that action will be taken against them.  In addition, it also helps to reassure pupils that may feel intimidated or threatened by the behaviour of certain individuals and allows the bus driver to concentrate on the important job of driving without distraction.  

When boarding a bus that we intend to ride on we always begin by speaking to all of the pupils onboard about why we’re going to join them on their journey.  We highlight any safety and behavioural issues that have been drawn to our attention and explain the consequences that these can have on safety onboard the bus.  We also make pupils fully aware that bus bans will be given out to those that have been behaving unacceptably.  If need be, we will make repeat visits and carry out ride-ons until the problem has been dealt with.

If you’d like us to travel onboard your school bus then please get in contact as soon as possible.  School bus drivers have the same right to a safe journey as school pupils, don’t let your safety be jeopardised ,we are here to help.   

As bus operators or drivers you should now be aware of our latest publication, School Buzz.  The purpose of this newsletter is to inform drivers of the overall role of the Safer Travel team and what we’ve been up to recently.  We hope it will encourage drivers and bus companies to let us know about any problems on their bus so that we can do our best to sort them out and make the journey safer and more enjoyable for all onboard.

As this is the first issue we would very much appreciate any feedback or comments on the newsletter.  This will help us in assessing the success of the newsletter and how we can make improvements for future editions.  

We are also very keen to hear from those of you that would like to contribute in some way to future School Buzz newsletters.  If you’ve got any interesting stories or ideas for articles we’d love to hear from you.  If you've not received a newsletter or require extra copies then please contact us stating the amount needed and we will gladly send you some more free of charge.  Alternatively, you can click on the link below to download an electronic copy.

The school bus journey can provide an ideal environment for bullies to perpetrate acts of bullying against their victims due to it being an environment of limited adult supervision.  Bullying can be difficult to identify and even harder to deal with.  With this in mind we've created a guide for school bus drivers on how to recognise bullying and the best way to handle it.  This guide can be downloaded from the link below.

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