A seven-year-old boy was left waiting at his school until 6pm one night because the taxi service that was meant to collect him let him down.

Charlie Dooley was moved from Bunscoill Rhumsaa to Jurby School six months ago after he was diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

Jurby had better facilities for him, but his mum, Jade Taylor, doesn’t drive.

She has a daughter, Katie Taylor, at Bunscoill Rhumsaa and had another baby, Theo Taylor, who was born in July.

The Department of Education and Children arranged for a taxi to take Charlie to and from school. Because of his condition there also had to be an escort with the taxi driver.

Initially the arrangement worked well but since the start of this term, Jade said there have been problems with the service being consistently late or turning up without an escort.

Jade said: ’Charlie was due to be picked up at 4pm. The taxi arrived but the driver didn’t bother going into the school to collect Charlie, as he is meant to do, he just drove off.

’All the teachers had gone home and the headmaster had gone to a meeting so there was only a caretaker there. We tried to call the school but it kept going to voicemail. I felt sick and scared that something had happened to Charlie.’

looking

Luckily Jade had the number of Alan Christian, the driver who used to pick up Charlie, and she was able to call him and find out what had happened.

He and his assistant, who had escorted Charlie on previous occasions, went looking for him all over Jurby. They thought he might have wandered off to the playground but they finally found him still sitting at school, in the main entrance.

Jade said: ’When Charlie got home he was a bit shaken up. He was shaking quite badly because it was cold there and he’d had no food.’

A government spokesman said: ’The Department of Infrastructure (DoI) organises bespoke transportation to and from schools, island-wide, for pupils with additional needs, using its own fleet and taxi and minibus operators.

’This is in addition to school buses that operate throughout the island.

’At the start of the autumn term, the school was advised that logistics of vehicle and escort availability meant that Charlie could not be collected until 4.10pm. This arrangement was in place for three days (September 6 to 8) and Mrs Taylor was aware of it.

’The arrangement was revised from the start of the second week of term to allow Charlie to be collected at close of school, 3.30pm.

’Unfortunately, due to an oversight, on Monday, September 11, no transportation was arranged to collect Charlie from school. The headteacher and Charlie’s class teacher had to leave school to attend a meeting but ensured Charlie was, at all times during his wait, inside the school, with school staff.

’When it became apparent that no transportation was arriving, the school and DoI spoke and the latter sent a minibus to collect Charlie.

’The headteacher returned to school after his meeting and, upon Charlie’s collection from school at 5.30pm, rang Mrs Taylor to advise that Charlie was on his way home. The DoI also kept Mrs Taylor informed by phone and apologised for the situation.

’Schools have a duty of care to children and there would have been no possibility that Charlie would have been left at school on his own, or left there all night.

’Nonetheless, we apologise for the situation that arose with Charlie’s transportation home on September 11 and are ensuring transportation arrangements for Charlie are in place.’

Despite this statement it seems that the problem with Charlie was not an isolated incident but part of a bigger problem.

Alan Christian, the driver who went looking for Charlie when he didn’t come home from school on time, has since resigned from his job driving a minibus for the DoI and he is not the only driver to do so.

He said: ’The incident with Charlie was the final straw. We had only been back since the previous Wednesday and Charlie was the fourth person that had been forgotten.

’After I resigned I got a phone call from another driver who said she was also finishing that day and she told me that her concerns mirrored mine.’

Alan went on to say that the service had originally been run under Department of Education control but that problems have arisen since it was transferred to the DoI.

He became concerned that the timings proposed for picking up and dropping off children didn’t not work, especially when he was called up on that Monday morning and asked to take an extra child.

’I wasn’t happy about that and I tried to explain some of the problems I thought would crop up.

’I was worried that I wouldn’t get the children to school on time,’ he said.

Alan was previously a senior education support officer and had worked with children with autism for a number of years.

He added: ’I was sick and tired of saying "These children need routine. If you break that routine overnight it can upset these children."

’I’ve had to give up a job I really loved because I had concerns about these children.’

fleet

The DoI has responded, telling the Examiner: ’The DoI transports more than 100 pupils with additional needs to and from 11 schools using its fleet of 21 minibuses, as well as using private transport operators. This fleet is also used for transport to and from seven adult social care locations.

’Although demands on its service change frequently, particularly at the beginning of a school year, the department strives to ensure its service is reliable.

’It is always willing to discuss the concerns of employees, if they share them with the department, in order that pupils receive the best service possible.’