On todays busy roads, safety is always a great concern and if you are a school organizing a trip for the pupils, there are lots of extra points you must consider- seat belts – emergency procedures – choosing the right company and lots more...

A new scheme, BUSK UK – Simply Safe – will allow schools to get an understanding of the aspects they must consider when organizing their trips.

BUSK is known throughout the United Kingdom and in Europe as the consultancy dedicated to improving child transport safety and standards across the board, whether dealing with day to day transport of children to and from school or with the organisation of day trips or school visits abroad.

Epsom Coaches has joined the BUSK UK - Simply Safe scheme. Their years of experience and dedication to your safety, together with their understanding of dealing with children on journeys will be invaluable.

Here is a statement from Epsom Coaches on this new initiative:

Epsom Coaches has joined BUSK UK’s brand new scheme that aims to change the culture of how teachers hire coaches for school trips. Never before has such an opportunity arisen for coach operators to work with the UK’s leading authority on the safety of school children travelling by road until now.

Simply Safe is a tool schools can use to gain a clear understanding in areas such as how many drivers should be provided on any one school trip and how often the coach is safety inspected and to get essential information without the need to ask questions. This is a must before the coach arrives through the school gate and full information about the transport hired should be given to parents before they sign along the dotted line for their child to participate in the trip. For the first time, an opportunity now exists for schools to get completely free advice and information from the experts at BUSK on how to produce a School Transport Policy document that covers all aspects related to the transportation of pupils and staff on school trips, seat belt policies, enforcement of these and emergency planning that the youngest child understands.

Teachers and even parents will benefit from crucial information available to establish if the coach company used for pupils is operating legally and safely by visiting the BUSK website. BUSK’s Director Pat Harris said, “Too many schools obtain three quotes and just pick the cheapest. For years this is how it has been done with many teachers not realising that in fact they should be taking account of more than just the cost. Should something go wrong during the trip resulting in the death of a pupil for instance, a court would want to know what criteria was used to source transport. A court is unlikely to accept that the teacher or school had done everything reasonably possible if they tried to raise a defence that they did not understand the subject or that they selected a transport company by choosing the cheapest.”

Steve Whiteway, Commercial Director of Epsom Coaches commented, “we are delighted to be part of Simply Safe, because all coach operators are not the same and this ensures that schools can be confident the operator they place their trust in, complies in all ways with the responsibility that teachers have to look after the welfare of their pupils”.