09 January 2024 , 23:58
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Parents have reacted with fury after they claimed a taxi service taking their children with special educational needs (SEN) to school was suddenly axed, with less than 24 hours notice.
The contract between a taxi company taking children to Hawthornden Primary School, Bonnyrigg, came to an end in December. On Tuesday, 24 hours before schools were due back, parents were called to say they were to make their own arrangements.
Kirsty McIntosh, whose son is autistic, said she is "constantly fighting battles" parents of neurotypical children may not face. The 38-year-old said: "There is a failure of communication, we were given less than 24 hours' notice and have been left in the lurch. Luckily, I am on maternity leave and I could help pick up some of the kids.
"My son Andrew, who's five-and-a-half, needs less preparation than some others and I could take him in, so they did all get to school this morning, but these kids are autistic and they need to be prepared and have consistency and they aren’t getting it.
"I can't fault the school, but the system is not fit for purpose. Sometimes it makes you feel like your children are an inconvenience and it's soul-destroying to constantly fight these battles that parents of neurotypical children won't have to deal with."
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Fellow mum Megan, 29, told EdinburghLive: “I'm just frustrated that this has been left so last minute. Our children are a part of the provision at Hawthornden. Our children are disabled and need transport to school.
Kirsty McIntosh was shocked when she received the email from the school (Kirsty McIntosh)"We once again have been left until the last second to call us and alert us so we could make other arrangements. I believe this came down to money once again. We loved the taxi firm, Alessa knew the drivers and she was excited to see them every morning.
"It's after the Christmas break, my daughter was asking about what will happen and I couldn't give her the answers because I didn't know. She was getting upset and when I went over to the timeline, there is a little picture of a car and I took it off, and she became irate. Luckily, someone was able to pick her up, so the picture of the car went back on and she calmed down then.
"Consistency is key for our children. The routine takes over my life because it's what works for Alessa, she needs things planned to a T. She feels uncomfortable around people she doesn't know so there has to be a transition period. We can't use the bus, it would just be too much for her. The taxi service has just been ripped away from us with no real reason.
"We don't know when it is going to be fixed so there's no routine. I can't drive so it was lucky that someone could pick her up. I was getting stressed having to think that I would have to phone my mum and disrupt her day. The children's needs were never thought about in this."
A Midlothian Council spokesman said: “We want to reassure families, we’ve been doing all we can to sort alternative transport arrangements since the taxi firm handed back the contract just before the Christmas shut down. We invited tenders three times since then without success and the contract is back out to tender. In the meantime, we’re exploring alternative solutions and giving parents and carers the option to claim mileage rates if they bring their children to school until new arrangements are in place.
“We’re aware this is stressful for the families, we’ve been communicating with them since before Christmas about the taxi situation and we were in contact with them again throughout yesterday keeping them up-to-date with our continued attempts to put alternative arrangements in place. However, it wasn’t until mid-afternoon yesterday we had to concede no such arrangements would be available for today. We will continue to communicate with parents about any transport developments. The families were able to make their own arrangements to get the children to school today.”