“Just because we look like a bus….it doesn’t mean transport is our friend…”

2:18pm Friday 12th June 2009

By Ro Linton

It has to be said, one of the biggest bug bears in life is transport. I’m not talking about the recent tube strike, we don’t tend to use the tube that much. It’s just the day to day getting kids to and from the CentrIe. Yesterday at After School Club, which starts at 3.30, we only had one child until about 4 o’clock, when one more child made it through the traffic jam that is Watford and its surrounds. It was not until nearly 4.30 that we had a full compliment of children. Some of our children rely on having a parent/carer, family member or friend available to bring them on their allocated day, while the others rely on the school bus or an escorted taxi. And sometimes they are let down very badly.

We have one boy who comes to the Centre by escorted taxi and is taken home the same way. It’s a regular arrangement. But just sometimes he is taken home, for no apparent reason, and even though everyone knows it’s his day to come to the Centre. This calls up all sorts of problems with a parent who doesn’t expect him and so may not be there to take him. The taxi calls the school. The school calls us. I have to hope I can contact the parent on her mobile. But most important is the fact that this boy relies on routine to make sense of his world. He becomes very distressed when things don’t happen as he expects. And this is something that’s so easy to get right.

The worst thing is for the taxi to be late picking him up. He becomes very anxious. To try to allay his fears we created what’s called a social story, using text and symbols. It’s a story using his name and his picture to tell the story of what happens at the end of the day. It tells him how he waits for the taxi and that sometimes he will be the last to be picked up. We may need to read this story over and over again until it comes true for him. It helps to keep him calm and, when the taxi does arrive, it reinforces that waiting works.

But sometimes it doesn’t. Once I received a call from a school to check that another little boy, who was only 6 at the time, was expected by us, to arrive at the Centre. The taxi had not come. It was past 4 o’clock, and, in my mind’s eye, all I could see was this little boy sitting in the foyer of his school, with his bag on the floor between his knees, just waiting. I called the taxi company and had a few words.

While I don’t want this to seem like a witch hunt against cabs, because its not, one more story has to be told. We have one boy who, on occasions, is taken to school by a taxi which can accommodate his wheelchair. Now when I use the word ‘accommodate’ I don’t mean just the physical size. The chair needs to be made secure with the appropriate straps and harnesses. On one occasion he was loaded into a vehicle by people who struggled so much that it was obvious they had never done this sort of thing before. As the parent watched, they attempted to take off with the chair fastened using only the nearest seatbelt. When the parent asked where the proper safety straps were, she was met with a blank response. It should be no surprise the parent demanded her son be taken out of the car, even though it meant he did not get to school that day.

Now you might be surprised by my next statement. These are the lucky ones. These parents HAVE transport, such that it is. Many of my families have to fight to have their children brought to the Centre. Can you imagine there being any problem about a mother who is registered blind needing transport arranged for her autistic son to attend the Centre? Apparently there is. Or what about when a school bus passes right by the Centre but isn’t allowed to stop to drop kids off? Why does it have to be so difficult? Why do my families have to fight so hard for something that seems so easy to organise?

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The “star bus” and other school buses are as much a part of the mythology of the Centre as the red bus painted on the building’s sides. The escorts on them and, in general, in the taxis, are caring people who have the welfare and security of the children at heart.

We also have great support from two schools in the area, Watford Boys’ Grammar and Queens School. The generous access they allow us to their buses, and the accommodating nature of Dave, Kevin and Malcolm enables us to take the children out on Saturdays and during Playschemes. Without them, these trips just would not happen. There is simply not the money to keep paying for private hire buses, despite being given consideration in the pricing for being a charity.

But donated buses are of little use without drivers. And while this blog is not intended to be a vehicle for putting my hand out, I have to say I am DESPERATE for reliable volunteer drivers. If there is anyone reading this blog…. Is there anyone reading this blog???.... (staying positive).. If there is anyone reading this blog who is able to drive a 16 seater mini bus and can give the children an occasional Saturday, and more desperately, a few days here and there during the last week in July and throughout August, I would be so grateful.

You can come to the Centre, meet the wonderful children who attend, spend a day with them in the sunshine (yes, I’m still staying positive), and go home knowing you have helped enrich the lives of some pretty terrific kids. Have I talked you around? If so, give me a call if you’d like to be a part of the madness that is the Watford Mencap Children’s Centre. 01923 220 816.

“The wheels on the bus go round and round… Round and round Round and round The wheels on the bus go round and round… All day long….”