They’re on holiday now but something happened a couple of days before they broke up and I didn’t have time to blog about it then. Then, last week, I was asked about the incident because the County Council wanted confirmation of the individuals involved.

No sooner had I left the school than all hell broke loose, I’ve said this many times before but on a scale of 1 to 10 it was probably 9. Not 10 because they didn’t set light to the seats! I pulled over at about the only possible spot and told them very clearly that we wouldn’t be moving until they were all seated. Moan, groan, scream, refuse to sit down …. made no difference to me I wasn’t going until they sat down. Finally they did sit and off we went. But as I expected they were imediately on their feet, fighting, swinging from the poles, running up and down the bus again. Just before their destination there is a few 100 yards of narrow winding lane in which two large vehicles can’t pass, you often to have to brake sharply in order to get over if another large vehicle appears round the bend. I stopped across a very minor side road before this because I wasn’t prepared to drive those few 100 yards with them running about. I told them again that we wouldn’t move until they were seated, at which point a Police car pulled and asked if I’d broken down. I told him the bus was fine and the problem was the kids and their refusal to be seated. The PC came on board and gave them a lecture and still some refused to sit! Next a small car pulled up and a woman came to the bus – a teacher from the school who was concerned to see the Police on a school bus. The PC told her the story and to her credit she went ballistic with the kids. She took the name and class of everyone on the bus and wanted to make those still refusing to sit get off the bus and walk. However, the PC advised against this because they’d have to walk down the narrow road I’d described. In the end they remained on the with the PC saying he’d escort me to where they get off. A Police escort, that’s a first!