Hertfordshire County Council put the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) transport contract out to tender, Kinect Services replaced 24x7 Essex from the start of this term.
Parents said they experienced a worryingly poor service from the new provider, which they said included a lack of training for staff accompanying their children, the wrong equipment, bad timekeeping and poor communication. Families across the county, who had experienced problems such as longer journeys, delays, lack of communication and inadequate safety equipment, had to carry on using Kinect due to the contract. A letter from the school references “significant transport problems”.
Lara, one of the parents, said “The staff weren’t even trained on our vehicle. We didn’t know this. Noah has a rare form of epilepsy and needs CPR under certain circumstances, and the staff didn’t even know he was epileptic. If he has a seizure and someone is not trained he can die because he stops breathing.
“I was only informed a few weeks ago that the driver and the passenger assistant on the vehicle had no idea he has epilepsy, despite sending care plans from the NHS. It’s well documented. It’s part of their standard operating procedure that both the driver and the passenger assistant have to be CPR-trained and first aid-trained and neither of them were. So we’re just very lucky Noah’s seizures are under control.
“As parents we trust our vulnerable children into their care to drop them at school because Hertfordshire doesn’t provide nearly enough schools and none locally. It doesn’t leave us with any degree of confidence when it’s handled like this."
She said that with 24x7 Esex they had “amazing relationships” with the drivers and the assistants, who were consistent over two years.
Of the new contract, she said: “It’s turned out to be a large disaster with every family. I don’t think there’s any family that hasn’t been affected.
“We’ve just been lucky that Noah’s contract was a smaller part of the contract because he lives in Bishop’s Stortford, an area that not many children come from. That’s the reason we were able to get our part of the contract cancelled but the rest of them are dealing with it.
“We’re very relieved, but we’re dealing with resulting massive behavioural difficulties as a result of the damage done, it’s extremely severe."
Lara, who works in NHS mental health and dementia research, said: “We’ll be raising formal safeguarding concerns via solicitors. Other parents I understand will be doing the same.
A message from Amwell View School said transport “continues to be a significant issue for some” and asked parents to be available to collect their children if the transport bus does not run.
It said: “Unfortunately the company does not seem to have a contingency plan to provide a second bus.”
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “Our priority is ensuring children can access their education without disruption and we are sorry for the transport issues some pupils at Amwell View School have faced since the start of term.
“We are working hard to resolve the issues with the transport provider as quickly as possible, keep parents and the school informed, and offer support."
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