A five-year-old boy was asked to travel alone in a taxi to school because Hampshire County Council HCC failed to find an escort, a report has found. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman opened an investigation after a father complained that his child did not have appropriate transport to school.
The child, who is referred to as Z in the report, needed an escort because of his age, speech, language and communication difficulties. There was already an existing transport arrangement, with an escort, for three other children attending the same primary school which was 12 miles away from the boy's home. The travel times for these children from home to school on this transport were between 40 to 60 minutes.
The only other option would be an individual taxi, but the council had a shortage of escorts available. The boy was added to the existing transport on March 9, a month after the application was submitted. The council told his father that he would be picked up at 7. His parents, unhappy with the offer, had no alternative but to drive their son to and from school each day themselves when he started in April After his father appealed the original offer, the council agreed the one hour and 40 minute travel time was too long.
Instead, HCC, offered a mileage allowance for taking their son to school themselves, but the father told the authority that it 'was not a viable option' for the family. In April, the Council told the pupil's father they could arrange a taxi for Z but not an escort and re-offered the mileage allowance.
The father further appealed for the council to provide a transport option which did not require parental involvement. The report says HCC told the father they did not have enough escorts for all routes, but transport officers have "assessed Z could travel without an escort" in a taxi.
