RECENTLY, my wife and I attended a meeting at Hartford High School to discuss children's safety while travelling to and from school on the school buses.

In attendance were the head and the deputy head of the school, the chair of governors and a representative from Cheshire County Council.

We were there to discuss the safety of our children while travelling on these buses in the light of recent incidents which have occurred on the Barnton/Hartford bus.

At this moment in time a double decker bus plus driver are used to pick up our children and to ferry them to and from the school.

At present these children are unsupervised and left to their own devices, but there is a genuine concern that one day someone will be seriously hurt.

The main points raised by parents and the school to improve the safety on the buses were dismissed by the council due to cost.

Some of the main suggestions that were made were as follows:

Assistants to monitor the children's behaviour on the buses and to report any serious incidents of misbehaviour.

Buses to be fitted with seat belts.

All bus passes to be colour-coded to enable the driver to identify who should and should not be on that particular bus. This would avoid overcrowding on certain buses.

We would all like to think that our children are responsible and well-behaved, but sadly it's not the case today.

So we would hope that the council would look to review its outdated policy and implement an updated policy which truly reflects today's society.

NAME

and address supplied.

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