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A FURIOUS mum has blasted the Vale of Glamorgan Council over what she calls disgraceful' safety standards on school buses.

Jane Edwards has complained to the authority several times since her six and eight-year old children began travelling on a council-provided bus to Ysgol Pen y Garth, in Penarth.

Now Mrs Edwards fears a problem with bus supervisors and a lack of seatbelts could end in a tragedy.

She said: "We first complained to the council when the supervisor on the bus didn't speak english.

"Then we complained because there was no supervisor at all - and lodged yet another complaint because the bus wasn't equipped with seatbelts.

"It is the law for children travelling in cars to not only have seatbelts, but to also have booster seats, yet a council-comissioned bus has neither.

"There is something very wrong for the Vale Council to allow this to happen," added Mrs Edwards "And to then excuse this lack of provision by arguing that it is not the law, as one council employee I spoke to said, is disgraceful.

"It may not be their law, but it's my law to keep my children safe, as I am sure it is every other parent who entrusts their children to be transported in this way.

"I wonder whether the Vale Council has learnt anything from recent school bus tragedies, like the death of Stuart Cunningham-Jones?"

Tough measures to protect children travelling to and from school on buses were unveiled by the Vale Council in July 2004, two years after Stuart Cunningham-Jones died in a crash.

The 12-year-old Cowbridge Comprehensive pupil was killed in December 2002, after the double-decker school bus he was travelling on careered off the road and hit a tree.

Following his death an inquest jury recommended that all buses carrying schoolchildren should be supervised.

But Mrs Edwards added: "How can children, some as young as four, communicate a problem when the only adult on the bus, apart from the driver, can't understand them?"

Vale of Glamorgan Council operational manager (planning and transportation policy) Emma Harvey said: "The council has been told that escorts do speak English, albeit limited, and that the reason for one journey not being covered was that an employee failed to turn up for work.

"The bus which is regularly used on this run is fitted with seat belts, although the belts on side seats are tucked away because these seats are not used by pupils.

"In the light of Mrs Edwards' representations, the council has reminded the operating company of its obligations and will undertake spot checks of the service to ensure compliance."

11:21am Thursday 8th May 2008

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