In December 2006, 11 year old Ben Vodden took his own life after being bullied on the dedicated school bus. His father, Paul, has been trying to find out about bullying on school buses but there is very little published information. With this in mind he has joined with the Diana Awards to produce a questionnaire for those who have experienced bullying on the way to school on the bus.
The information will be used to find out how much bullying occurs on dedicated school buses and, if there is a lot of it, to use the information to lobby for better care for children on such buses.
As a result of Ben's death we were told of a number of instances where bullying took place on dedicated school buses and we discovered that there is little or no central control over how children are transported too and from school. Drivers of dedicated school buses are not required to receive any training, in what other circumstances is a lone adult expected to be in charge of up to 50 or more children with no training or support. This is unacceptable and we owe it to our children to ensure they are transported safely, this survey will help to find out the extent of any problem of unacceptable behaviour on dedicated school buses.