NASUWT members are calling for Section 19 permits to be revoked so that schools/colleges that wish to operate minibuses must have an operator licence.
In November 1993, a school minibus carrying pupils home from an event in London crashed into a stationary motorway maintenance lorry on the M40 near Warwick, killing 12 of the 14 children on board and their teacher who was driving.
The crash occurred just after midnight and the teacher had been working for 16 hours at the time of the crash. It is likely they fell asleep at the wheel.
Since this time, minibuses themselves have become safer, but the root cause of the 1993 accident, a teacher driving a minibus inappropriately, has never been addressed.
A survey conducted by NASUWT revealed:
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One-in-ten teachers drove a minibus in the last 12 months, and of these:
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almost a fifth of teachers have no formal training;
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almost a quarter are at least sometimes pressurised into driving minibuses;
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one in eight are driving minibuses long distances after a teaching day;
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almost a third at least sometimes drive a minibus feeling tired; and
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many raised issues around poor maintenance.
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Many of the these issues are related to the fact that schools and colleges are not subject to the same regulations as commercial bus and coach operators through a system called a section 19 permit.
In practice, this means schools escape the tighter controls around minibus maintenance, driver hours, licence requirements, etc. that are in place to ensure the safety of passengers on buses and coaches.
To rectify this, NASUWT is calling for Section 19 permits to be revoked so that any schools/colleges that wish to operate minibuses must have an operator licence. This is already standard practice for non-charity private schools.
