This Is Guernsey

By Juliet Pouteaux

Ethel Lingad, left, and Alaina Le Page were both hurt in an incident on their school bus on Monday. Above, how the Guernsey Press reported concerns expressed by Alaina’s mum. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0651537)

TWO schoolgirls were hurt and left badly shaken after an incident on their school bus. Twelve-year-old Alaina Le Page and her mother expressed concerns about bus safety at the start of term and the Guernsey Press reported those on 13 September.

On Monday, Alaina gashed her hand on the bus home from school. ‘I pushed the bell to stop the bus,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t too far forward. When the driver braked, I grabbed hold of the timetable holder. It happened so fast. The driver didn’t even ask if I was OK.’

Nine-year-old Ethel Lingad was standing next to Alaina when the incident happened.

‘The driver slammed on the brakes,’ she said. ‘I was thrown forward and had to grab the ticket machine.’

Ethel was badly bruised in the incident.

The girls’ mothers were waiting for them at the bus stop outside Safeway.

‘Alaina ran towards me crying,’ said mother Tracey Le Page. ‘I thought, that’s it. This is war. I have pursued this issue for months and now my daughter has been hurt. I have had enough. Something needs to be done.’

Mrs Le Page has been infuriated by Environment minister Peter Sirett’s comments on bus overcrowding.

‘I can’t believe he would say overcrowding is a sign of success. I would like a full retraction of those comments and an apology now this has happened. They need to be held accountable for this incident.’

Ethel’s mother felt children’s rights were not being recognised.

‘Young people have rights too,’ said mother Jesse Lingad. ‘They aren’t just statistics. At the start of term, the school encouraged us to have our children get the bus and then this happened.’

The Environment Department has looked at CCTV footage of the incident and said that the bus was not full at the time.

‘It is clear the bus was not at full capacity,’ said Deputy Sirett. ‘At least three seats were empty and only five or six students were standing. It is appalling that the behaviour of some students at the front of the bus contributed, without a doubt, to the outcome of the incident. Had those students been seated or holding onto the rails and not interfering with the safe use of the bus, the innocent, well-behaved female student who was waiting to alight would not have been knocked forward.’

Island Coachways is looking into the matter.

‘Obviously we take any complaint very seriously,’ said managing director Hannah Beacom. ‘We are in the process of investigating this report. I have heard my driver’s account of events and CCTV footage was taken on board the vehicle at the time the alleged incident happened.’

Article posted on 8th October, 2008 - 2.29pm