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Colchester: mum's fears over bus to school
6:19am Wednesday 2nd July 2008
A MOTHER whose daughter broke her arm when a bus braked said today that children should not be made to stand on services.
Olivia Hepsworth, 12, of The Street, Great Tey, was in "an enormous amount of pain" after the incident on the A120.
Mother Alexandra said Olivia had been thrown forward with such force she had broken her arm.
Mrs Hepsworth said she believed it was dangerous for pupils travelling to Colchester County High School for Girls, Colchester Royal Grammar School and St Mary's School on the bus to have to stand as its route includes the A120 and two junctions of the "notorious A12".
Duncan Cameron, operations director of First in Essex said of the incident: "At First, safety of our passengers is our number one priority"
- More in today's Gazette
Your Say YourColchester
Anne, says...
6:53am Wed 2 Jul 08
Hughie, Here says...
8:19am Wed 2 Jul 08
made to stand on services
So someone ordered the child to stand?
As reference is made to use of the A120 I assume this is the morning journey (return runs via Fordham) which starts at Great Tey so I find it hard to believe that the bus is full at that point
Norm, Colchester says...
8:30am Wed 2 Jul 08
We were more scared that the older boys would:
a) Give us a peanut
b) Give us a wedgie
c) Tie us to the back of a seat using our school tie
d) Throw all our stuff out the window
e) Give us dead legs and dead arms
Olivia's Mum should spend some time with her daughter explaining how to hold on to something when standing up on a bus.
No! I'm Spartacus, Colchester says...
8:34am Wed 2 Jul 08
People stand all the time on the tube and they aren't always breaking limbs.
As much as I sympathise with the young girl, and I hope she heals quickly, 'living' involves many forms of potential danger. Obviously we should take realistic precautions but there can be a level of anality.
I'm off to make a sandwich with a bladeless knife now....
Scoot, St Osyth says...
10:59am Wed 2 Jul 08
Mr Rose, says...
11:49am Wed 2 Jul 08
Alan, Great Wigbborough says...
12:39pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Beacuse some dear mum wanted someone else to blame. Accidents do happen. It is part of growing up. If you choose to send your child a long way to school, and why not? then you have to accept the consequences when minor aqccidents happen.
Mr Rose has a good point but is he and others prepared to pay for extra buses or suffer the consequences of children been left on the side of the road in the rain for the next if any bus?
Helsabels, Wivenhoe says...
1:48pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Jane, says...
2:23pm Wed 2 Jul 08
ladykinsdi, essex countryside says...
2:32pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Jack, Maldon says...
5:05pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Jack, Maldon says...
5:07pm Wed 2 Jul 08
AG, Colchester says...
5:47pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Hughie, Here says...
6:11pm Wed 2 Jul 08
The printed story states she travels on the 509 which starts from Great Notley and goes round Braintree before heading to Colchester. As it does not go through Great Tey I assume Mummy takes her to the main road in the 4x4.
The paper claims she pays £933 a year for a ticket, why?? A Colchester outer area pass costs £720 for a year.
Why can't she get the bus from the village as I had assumed? Got it - she would have to cross Lexden Road (zebra crossing) and walk up Norman Way.
Citizen 139, says...
6:35pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Real Resident, Walton on the Naze says...
6:41pm Wed 2 Jul 08
No doubt in this case the driver was speeding as they all seem to.
unclemunkle, Colchester says...
6:48pm Wed 2 Jul 08
meaningless company rhetoric; of course that are comitted to customer safety... but clearly this accident shows that they were not comitted enough!
andy, says...
7:04pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Jennifer, Great Tey says...
7:05pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Bob, Colchester says...
7:46pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Anna Walker, Colchester says...
8:20pm Wed 2 Jul 08
All the comments on here are really nasty and you seem to be forgetting the fact that at the end of the day a girl's arm got broken from a stupid accident that would have never happened if there was enough space on the bus for everyone to sit down. She was holding onto the pole, right at the front of the bus, when the bus driver slammed on the breaks and she fell. In fact we all went forward when the brakes slammed on. Olivia was so brave - in factt I didn't think she had hurt herself at all because she was shaking but she stayed standing up all the way to school, holding onto the pole. When we got off, she always waits for me until I get off and then we walk across Lexden Road and up Norman Way together. I asked straight away if she was ok and she said her arm really hurt and she was shaking but she didn't cry at all. She looked pretty pale so I told her to go and get it checked out by a first aider when we got to school. But first she went to her form room and that's where I left her when I went to my form room. We are both in the same year but I didn't see her during the school day. When she didn't get on the bus that evening, I texted her and she told me that she had been to A&E because of her arm. I was so shocked.
The bus has driven past her many times because it is always packed to the brim with students - the bus simply isn't big enough.
There is a big yellow bus scheme that runs the same route to our bus but you cannot get on it if you want to buy daily tickets and Olivia is not allowed on it because each student has to have an assigned seat and because she is one of the last to get on inthe morning, there simply wasn't enough room for her on there.
I think that most people on here have been having jibes at her and her family and I think that is really awful. Please rethink some of your comments.
Anna Walker, says...
8:25pm Wed 2 Jul 08
the old sea dog, any port in a storm says...
8:36pm Wed 2 Jul 08
jermaine, says...
8:43pm Wed 2 Jul 08
the old sea dog wrote:old sea dog, I don't think you quite understand why this is a problem. Its not the way she was holding onto the pole, It's how much everybody pays for public transport and we should all be demanding a decent service.
If you have to stand hold on right and stand still, never heard of a bone breaking by pulling before, thats if she was holding on like it was stated.This sounds like a classic case of "I feel compesation coming on"
I don't think the family have made this story public because they want compensation,it sounds like it was a traumatic experience for all involved and they don't want it happening to other children.
This sort of service on public buses should not be tolerated!
Hughie, Here says...
8:27am Thu 3 Jul 08
Real Resident - If the ticket is £933 fair enough but in this instance I cannot see the logic in purchasing one if a cheaper option is available that will give a years travel at any time of day on most First, Network Colcheter and Hedingham buses in an area bounded by West Mersea, Frating, Dedham, Stratford St. Mary, Earls Colne, Coggeshall, Kelvedon and Tiptree Heath.
Anna
Yes I have had a jibe but I apologise as it appears now that the situation is in the main down to lack of awareness.
The bus has driven past her many times because it is always packed to the brim with students /
The 509 is registered as a stage service and is available for ANY person, including adults, to use - it is not a school bus but a bus used mainly by school children and appears in the Essex CC timetable book. Buses starting from Braintree will be full but the one starting from Coggeshall and the one from Gt Tey should have seats - that's why they start "short".
Can a Great Tey person explain why:
i) They pay more than they need?
ii) Why the need to get the 509 when there are four other services along the A120 between 0750 and 0808 including one starting from Great Tey?
george buckland, colchester says...
1:29pm Thu 3 Jul 08
busboy, says...
5:09pm Thu 3 Jul 08
Bluey, Colchester says...
9:07am Fri 4 Jul 08
NOBODY should be allowed to stand on buses, passengers should all have seats with fitted seat belts!
Your sayYourColchester
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Anne, says...
6:48am Wed 2 Jul 08
Amazingly, unbelievably, I and millions of others survived a wartime of travelling to the CCHS by bus, giving up our seats as a matter of course to any adult female, not just to the aged.
We were taught how to stand and how to negotiate a moving bus. They were packed to an unbelievable extent in those days, when hardly anyone had a car much less the fuel allowance to run one. Probably they moved (and braked) faster without all today's traffic to impede them.
I did however break my arm between bus journey and home by slipping on some mud!
It was all a part of childhood's hazards, and while we now try so hard to avoid the cost, trauma etc of a child being hurt, it still does happen.
We don't want to put any child in danger recklessly, but surely it is more a matter of how fast the bus is travelling, so that braking becomes a hazardous moment for all on board? Should the bus driver not be urged to slow down and drive more cautiously, rather than the little dears be given precedent in seating?
No wonder we are now faced with arrogant sprogs shouting "I gotta right!!!" whatever they are doing or demanding.
Better put them all in a larger version of baby car seats, then, and maybe add a protective layer of padding or cotton wool? Oh, and mummy could maybe travel with them to ensure the windows are open / closed to the right degree etc?