01-21-2006, 01:02 PM
Yet Again :!:
Autistic girl left for hours on bus
Father demands answers after blunder at depot
Yorshire Post
Lizzie Murphy
21st January 2006
AN autistic girl who cannot speak or move by herself was left for seven hours on a minibus after both the driver and carer failed to see her when it arrived at school.
Asma Shah, who is 18 but has the mental age of a three-year-old, was abandoned in a rear seat on the 16-seat bus all day at a Bradford depot and was only noticed by a carer after the bus returned to pick up the children at the end of the day.
Her father, Shamsher, is now demanding to know why she was neglected. He said: "I am shocked. Negligence is totally unacceptable and I want to know why this happened."
The bus collected Asma from her home in Wightman Street, off Otley Road in Bradford, as usual at 8.15am and she was put into a rear seat with a seatbelt round her.
Mr Shah, a father-of-seven, said another of his daughters gave Asma's dinner money to the carer before the bus left.
But when she arrived at Chapel Grange Special School in Rhodesway, instead of being taken off the bus by the carer Asma was left in her seat and taken to the bus depot in Otley Road owned by Wrose Travel, which is contracted by West Yorkshire Transport Services (WYTS) to carry out this service. She was left at the depot.
She was noticed by a teacher only when the bus went back to collect the children at 3pm.
Mr Shah, 47, said he was contacted by the school shortly afterwards and could not believe what it told him.
"I was shocked by what happened and I want to know why they didn't remember her – my other daughter even spoke to the carer in the morning," he said.
"How could they miss somebody when there are only seven children on the bus?
"And when she wasn't in class why didn't the school contact us to find out where she was?"
He added: "Although she can't speak, we could tell Asma was frightened by what had happened but she is slowly getting over it. She had a couple of days off school but she is back now."
Headteacher Hilary Morrison refused to answer questions directly but said in a statement: "The school's processes and procedures relating to the serious and regrettable incident that occurred last Friday involving Asma Shah have been thoroughly reviewed; we have liaised closely with WYTS to put in place additional steps in order to ensure that such a situation cannot happen again."
Edward Jackson, legal secretary for Wrose Travel, said the firm was embarrassed by what had happened.
"From what I've been told, it appears the child was lying down on the seat so she couldn't be seen," he said.
"Normally a driver would check over a vehicle when returning it to the depot but because this vehicle was being used on the same route in the afternoon it was not checked."
Mr Jackson added that in future drivers would be told to check the buses after each journey.
Geoff Binnington, contract manager for WYTS, said: "Immediately this came to our attention the crew involved were suspended while a joint and thorough investigation was conducted by WYTS, West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Chapel Grange School."
He added that the investigation had led to a formal disciplinary hearing and established that it was a regrettable incident caused by genuine human error involving experienced crew members.
"The escort and driver both fully understood their responsibilities, accepted their mistake and were distraught that it had resulted in such a serious error. Neither will be transporting Asma again," he said.
Source: http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArti...ID=1323050
Autistic girl left for hours on bus
Father demands answers after blunder at depot
Yorshire Post
Lizzie Murphy
21st January 2006
AN autistic girl who cannot speak or move by herself was left for seven hours on a minibus after both the driver and carer failed to see her when it arrived at school.
Asma Shah, who is 18 but has the mental age of a three-year-old, was abandoned in a rear seat on the 16-seat bus all day at a Bradford depot and was only noticed by a carer after the bus returned to pick up the children at the end of the day.
Her father, Shamsher, is now demanding to know why she was neglected. He said: "I am shocked. Negligence is totally unacceptable and I want to know why this happened."
The bus collected Asma from her home in Wightman Street, off Otley Road in Bradford, as usual at 8.15am and she was put into a rear seat with a seatbelt round her.
Mr Shah, a father-of-seven, said another of his daughters gave Asma's dinner money to the carer before the bus left.
But when she arrived at Chapel Grange Special School in Rhodesway, instead of being taken off the bus by the carer Asma was left in her seat and taken to the bus depot in Otley Road owned by Wrose Travel, which is contracted by West Yorkshire Transport Services (WYTS) to carry out this service. She was left at the depot.
She was noticed by a teacher only when the bus went back to collect the children at 3pm.
Mr Shah, 47, said he was contacted by the school shortly afterwards and could not believe what it told him.
"I was shocked by what happened and I want to know why they didn't remember her – my other daughter even spoke to the carer in the morning," he said.
"How could they miss somebody when there are only seven children on the bus?
"And when she wasn't in class why didn't the school contact us to find out where she was?"
He added: "Although she can't speak, we could tell Asma was frightened by what had happened but she is slowly getting over it. She had a couple of days off school but she is back now."
Headteacher Hilary Morrison refused to answer questions directly but said in a statement: "The school's processes and procedures relating to the serious and regrettable incident that occurred last Friday involving Asma Shah have been thoroughly reviewed; we have liaised closely with WYTS to put in place additional steps in order to ensure that such a situation cannot happen again."
Edward Jackson, legal secretary for Wrose Travel, said the firm was embarrassed by what had happened.
"From what I've been told, it appears the child was lying down on the seat so she couldn't be seen," he said.
"Normally a driver would check over a vehicle when returning it to the depot but because this vehicle was being used on the same route in the afternoon it was not checked."
Mr Jackson added that in future drivers would be told to check the buses after each journey.
Geoff Binnington, contract manager for WYTS, said: "Immediately this came to our attention the crew involved were suspended while a joint and thorough investigation was conducted by WYTS, West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Chapel Grange School."
He added that the investigation had led to a formal disciplinary hearing and established that it was a regrettable incident caused by genuine human error involving experienced crew members.
"The escort and driver both fully understood their responsibilities, accepted their mistake and were distraught that it had resulted in such a serious error. Neither will be transporting Asma again," he said.
Source: http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArti...ID=1323050