About Our School Services.
We operate a variety of school services from home to school contracts to conventional bus routes. All of our school bus drivers and passenger assistants are fully DBS checked and are issued with Kent County Council identification badges.
You may receive a letter from Kent County Council regarding home to school travel stating that your child has been allocated a seat on one of our buses. We do endeavour to contact all parents of Laleham Gap, Spires and St Nicholas Schools with details of pick up times and confirmation of name and address of you and your child. We will also require a contact telephone number just in case there are any problems along the route .
With the conventional bus routes, you can find details of those on our ‘Timetable’ pages. This will cover the special school services on services 620, 667 and 954. Should your child be needing a bus pass, this will be issued by Kent County Council. We accept most of the KCC Travel Saver passes and these can be scanned on our ticket machines when boarding.
Bus Passes At The Beginning Of Term.
Kent County Council no longer send out a letter for travel on the first day of term. You should receive an email or a letter advising that their application is being processed. It’s advisable to print off a copy of the email or the letter of confirmation and also bring along last years pass too. Due to anticipated delays in the issue of passes, the deadline for travelling without a pass is extended to Friday 17th September 2021. After that date children are expected to present a valid bus pass or pay an appropriate bus fare. Without this valid pass or fare they may be refused travel* so please make sure that from Monday 20th September your child has a pass or the ability to pay.
*We would not leave any child in a vulnerable position.
Hot Listing Cards.
If for any reason, payment is not made or is missed, Kent County Council have the right to withdraw travel passes. This is called hot listing them and when they are scanned on the ticket machine it alerts the driver. The pass will then be taken from the child by the driver who will issue a With Drawn Travel Pass Voucher. This will then allow them onward travel for the rest of that day. If for any reason this happens, please contact Kent County Council who deal with the payment scheme, the issue and withdrawal of the cards.
Code of conduct for students when travelling.
With all of our school services, we do expect a good standard of behaviour from all school pupils and we do work very closely with both Kent County Council and the local schools. Many thousands of pupils and students in Kent will receive transport or help with travel costs from Kent County Council each year. Many of them will travel on public transport services and will therefore travel with large numbers of other young people, as well as members of the general public.
There is a responsibility on students to behave appropriately while travelling. Where any behaviour falls short of the required standards, the Council has mechanisms to work with parents, school and transport providers to rectify problems and it retains the right to suspend or remove transport or passes where this is deemed appropriate. It is the responsibility of students to:
• Arrive for their transport on time and with a valid travel pass for travel
• Behave in a safe and responsible way at all times
• Get on the first available vehicle they have a valid pass for
• Show their passes to the driver or other officials when asked
• Follow all instructions from the driver, inspector or other official at all times especially in an emergency
• Wear seatbelts at all times (if they are fitted)
• Get off safely at the right stop and cross roads carefully
• The following behaviour is not acceptable and if reported, parents will be contacted by the Local Authority as to the appropriate action that will be taken.
Nuisance or offensive behaviour (Category 1)
This includes irritating and unpleasant behaviour which, while not necessarily a threat to safety, may impair the comfort of others. Such behaviour includes:
• Failing to respond to the driver or inspector appropriately.
For example, not showing a valid travel pass.
• Eating or drinking on the vehicle
• Smoking
• Spitting
• Using bad or abusive language
• Making excessive noise
• Placing feet on the seats of the vehicle
Dangerous behaviour (Category 2)
This includes behaviour which may present some potential or actual threat to the physical safety of the child and others and includes:
• Standing on the vehicle steps or in the doorway
• Leaning out of the window or door
• Harassing or verbally abusing other passengers or the driver
• Bullying
• Running around inside the vehicle or climbing on the seats.
Destructive or very dangerous behaviour (Category 3)
This category includes behaviour which causes or has the potential to cause physical injury to others and damage to the vehicle and includes:
• Fighting
• Threatening physical violence
• Breaking windows
• Interfering with the opening of the doors or emergency
exits
• Causing graffiti including scratching glass
• Spraying aerosols
• Damage to seats, seatbelts or other equipment.
Extremely dangerous or life threatening behaviour (Category 4)
This category includes behaviour which is likely to cause serious injury to others and includes:
• Physical assault on the driver or other passengers
• Lighting fires including igniting aerosols
• Threatening physical violence with a dangerous
weapon
• Interfering with the vehicle controls
All of our service buses (which are used on the services like 620, 667 and 954 ) are fitted with working high definition CCTV which will be used in incidents of any of the above categories of bad behaviour to identify those responsible.
Please note: we do prefer passengers not to eat or drink on our buses due to the risk of spillage and the litter that is caused by food and drink and the associated wrappers.
Useful Links
Kent County Council school term dates 2021 – 2022.
Kent County Council school transport information page.
Kent County Council free school transport information page.
