Newslink December final

News
Union joins parents in calling for tighter rules
on teachers in minibuses, not relaxing them
Teachers should not be allowed to drive
school and college minibuses without formal
qualifications or statutory safeguards, a
teaching union has said.
The NASUWT teaching union is calling for
exemptions that allow schools and colleges
to run minibuses without a full operator’s
licence to be scrapped to prevent further
tragedies on the road.
The call came ahead of the 30th
anniversary of a minibus crash on the M40
near Warwick that claimed the lives of 12
schoolchildren and their teacher.
Pupils from Hagley Roman Catholic High
School in Worcestershire – and their teacher
Eleanor Fry, who was driving at the time –
were killed when their minibus crashed on the
way home from a concert in London on
November 18, 1993.
Liz and Steve Fitzgerald, whose daughter
Claire was one of the pupils who died in the
crash, are also calling on the Government to
address safety concerns.
The parents are campaigning for the
Government to legislate for best practice
which would mean all schools with minibuses
to have an operator’s licence.
In a joint statement they said: “We are
looking for support from Government to
redress this inequality in safety for young
people and teachers alike urgently. This is a
matter above politics, it is a matter of life and
death.”
Currently, school staff in the UK can be
asked to drive minibuses with just a car
driving licence.
The NASUWT is calling for the Section
19/22 exemptions, which allow schools to
operate minibuses without a full public
service vehicle (PSV) operator’s licence, to be
withdrawn.
This would mean that all drivers of
minibuses would need to have formal
qualifications and statutory safeguards on
driving would be in place, the union said.
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general
secretary, said: “Many parents will be
horrified to realise that 30 years after this
appalling tragedy, school minibuses are still
being driven by teachers without full minibus
driving licence qualifications or without
statutory safeguards in place.
“It is still the case that teachers can do a
whole day of teaching pupils and then drive
A police officer inspects floral tributes
to the victims of the M40 minibus crash
and supervise pupils, sometimes for many
hours.
“We are calling on the Transport Secretary
to close this loophole in the regulations, bring
in statutory safeguards and ensure that all
drivers of minibuses have formal
qualifications.
“Thirty years on from this tragedy, the
most appropriate way to honour the memory
of the victims is to do everything possible to
ensure such a terrible accident doesn’t
happen again.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the
Association of School and College Leaders
(ASCL), said: “School minibuses are essential
in being able to provide a range of activities to
pupils but the law as it stands is complex and
C1, D1: what are they?
C1: With a Category C1 Licence drivers are
able to drive an LGV of between 3,500kg
and 7,500kg. You can also add a trailer of
no more than 750kg. This vehicle is
commonly known as a 7.5 ton, Class 3 or
C1, and is typically used for making local
supermarket deliveries, or removals.
D1: People who hold a D1 licence can drive
minibus-style with no more than 16
passenger seats, and a maximum length
of 8 metres.
in need of review.
“The Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents advises that anyone who operates
a minibus service to carry passengers has a
duty of care under health and safety law to
take all reasonable precautions to ensure that
it is operated safely, and it recommends that
all minibus drivers should receive specific
minibus driver training.”
The call also comes as road safety groups
have voiced alarm that the Government
intends to relax the licensing rules on C1 and
D1 licensing.
One MSA GB member told Newslink: “This
smacks of the way the Department for
Transport scrapped B + E licence testing, for
towing trailers. That licence category was
brought in for a reason, because it was clear
that people were passing their driving test
and then towing a trailer, without taking any
additional training to cope with the different
challenges involved.
“That decision may well come back to bite
the Department for Transport; scrapping C1
and D1 licence categories could also lead to an
increase in road fatalities.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Every
death on our roads is a tragedy and we
continue to work tirelessly to improve road
safety for all users.
“We provide guidance to schools and local
authorities on driving school minibuses and
we continue to work with the sector on
promoting road safety.”
10 NEWSLINK n DECEMBER 2023