School parents left devastated after transport for autistic children scrapped at short notice
Kirst McIntosh was left scrambling to find a way of sending her autistic child to school
Google Street View/Kirst McIntosh
The parents of a group of autistic children in Scotland have been left devastated after a taxi service that took their children to school was stopped.
The contract between Hawthornden Primary School in Bonnyrigg and the taxi company came to an end in December, but when schools re-started in the new year, it became apparent that no alternative transport had been set up.
Parents have now hit out at the lack of communication as they were left with less than a day's notice to make their own travel arrangements.
The school emailed the parents and told them that they could claim mileage rates back.
Parents have slammed Hawthornden Primary School for its lack of communication
Google Street View
Kirsty McIntosh, 38, a mum at the school told EdinburghLive that as a parent of an autistic child, she is "constantly fighting battles" that other parents may not face.
She 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 it is the system that 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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Kirsty McIntosh said she is "constantly fighting battles" that other parents may not face
Kirsty McIntosh
Fellow mum Megan, 29, from Dalkeith, was also left "appalled" by the short notice.
She said: "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.
"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."
Megan explained that Alessa needs routine and that the sudden change of no taxi service made her "irate".
She said: "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.
Megan added: "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. I can't drive so it was lucky that someone could pick her up."
A Midlothian Council spokesperson said: "We want to reassure the three 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 that 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.”