Parents whose children use the same bus service as a Perth boy who was left unattended for almost five hours on Wednesday have described the incident as shocking and distressing.
Key points:
- An investigation has been launched into how the child was overlooked on the bus
- Two members of the bus staff have been dismissed
- Parents say their children are upset about what happened
The Public Transport Authority (PTA) is investigating after the Year 7 boy, who attended Leeming Secondary Education Support Centre, was left on the bus alone.
The boy was collected on Wednesday morning but remained on the bus when it returned to its depot in Welshpool and was not found until the driver returned for the afternoon collection.
The PTA said the bus driver and a bus helper had been detained until further notice.
worried parents
Mum Melissa, who did not want her last name used, said her 10-year-old son used the same bus service to school and was worried after hearing about the incident.
“The upsetting part is what he’s doing to the kids, because he gets the bus. He gets the bus service home and he’s very distressed about what happened,” she said.
“This could happen to him and that’s the most worrying part… there is no communication from the [bus] service to the rest of us to reassure everyone.
“That’s the main concern: the kids are so upset, so anxious, so worried.”
Viktoria Sliusenko’s son sometimes takes the same bus as the child who was left unattended for hours. (ABC News: Kenneth Png)
Local mother Viktoria Sliusenko, whose 16-year-old son lives with disabilities and sometimes uses the bus service, said the incident would shock many people.
“I have a special needs son myself. It’s very, very concerning,” she said.
“My son has cerebral palsy…I honestly can’t imagine him shaking inside.”
“Normal procedure followed”
Bus operator Horizon West said it reported the event to the PTA after finding the boy and was conducting its own review while cooperating with the authority.
“We are relieved to learn that the child is doing well and appears unharmed from this incident,” the service provider said in a statement.
“The usual procedure to check that all passengers had disembarked the bus was followed after the morning service was over.
Parents say children at Leeming School are upset about what happened. (ABC News: Kenneth Png)
“It is very concerning that the presence of the child passenger was not picked up as part of this process.”
The PTA said it introduced child control alarms on newly contracted school buses in 2013 and retrofitted them on existing buses.
A spokesman said the alarm goes off once the ignition has been switched off, forcing a driver to walk to the back of the bus to deactivate it before a siren sounds.
However, the spokesman did not comment on the alarms in relation to this particular case.
The Education Support Center at Leeming SHS and the WA Department of Education have been contacted for comment.
School ‘should face questions’
Disability Australia president Sam Conner said his heart went out to the parents.
“If I were the parents at that school, I would be asking questions and demanding some answers,” she said.
“I would like to ask what happened when the child did not go to school, did the school send a message to the parents?”
He said it was horrifying to think what could have happened if the circumstances were different.
“You just wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t used the same bus for that afternoon route,” Ms Conner said.
“We know that neglect and abuse happen on school buses.”
The threat that public and private transportation poses to some people with disabilities is often overlooked, according to Conner, whose son with autism has been abused on a school bus before.
“The Disability Royal Commission, which we have right now, has a number of things that they haven’t really looked at, and transport is one of those things.”