Indeed, but more often than not it allows frivelous claims that force small companies to settle out of court, or go under.

Yes, because that's criminal negligence, the stairways are provided specifically to allow my egress from the facility, if I was standing on the top of a "dugout" and it collapsed then I'd have no claim, likewise standing on a luggage rack and leaning against a window is stupid, even for a 12 year old.

on second thoughts, if i was at Craven Park and i was walking down the steps of the Golf stand and they crumbled, then id sue the s for every penny possible and id appoint hudgills personally

The real negligence would appear to date 12 years further back than this incident and unless the girl was conceived on one of their back seats it has nothing to do with the bus company.

Aye , her parents conceived her on the same bus when they were on there way to andrew marvell school

Depends, I wouldnt if the staircase was not designed for public use, and if it had a sign saying "do not use this staircase" stuck on it. The equivalent of which, presumably a luggage rack, designed for luggage, and not people would have.

Is the claimants name Mr/Mrs/Miss Gecko per chance?

Of course, as has been seen on the comments board and on here, the old sweeping generalisations of buses and drivers pour forth from the mouths of the misinformed and downright ignorant. I know it's a well-worn platitude, but if you can't do the job yourself, don't pass comment.

Regarding the incident itself, it is possible the driver had to spend time concentrating on the road (we do from time to time ) and these girls clambered into the luggage rack without her knowing. A window falling out is, thankfully, a very rare occurence and cannot always be picked up on a first user check to determine whether it will fall out on it's journey or not.

Cottingham High School have a significant number of pupils who have trouble behaving themselves outside of school, with our company having to send officials there on numerous occasions to deal with problems on school buses.

And for those who say that putting an adult on board school buses to ensure behaviour, well an inspector from our company was once assaulted by schoolchildren on a school bus. It's not a guarantee.

I'm not blowing our company's trumpet, but our maintenance and operation record is pretty good. Tendering for school contracts is a cutthroat business, and it is inevitable that the less salubrious companies get a fair share of the work. I know Ellie Rose's mechanic, and he does a good job under trying circumstances, but companies like them can't afford to run reasonable vehicles on school contracts. Thankfully, such incidents are very few and far between.

It is not the fact that the kid acted up that is the problem, it is the fact that her parents aren't setting the correct example that what she did was wrong. The message being sent is "if you f*ck about, it's OK because we'll hopefully get some money out of it". That girl probably thinks she's untouchable now. That's the worst part of parenting, not the fact that it happened, but the dealing with what happened.

Her parents are trying to get reward for their kid being a prat. Reckon she'll do it again?
And people wonder why kids don't follow the rules.

Very true, The Americans have been down this same track with the claim senarios for years but have now come out the other side with less care for casual claims and many courst wont even get into litigation over such things now in the US, lets hopewe follow suit

my father back in the 60s & 70s would have put me to sleep for a wee while for such as that!! its all about the family and nothing else, if you lack control and upbringing you are destined to jump the rails, not all but your backbone is your staff of life, down to your parents to make you grow one!!
Jesus i grew up as a kid in a very tight knit community down Withernsea street in a very very run down area where no one had any money but the kids all knew how far to go and when to stop and what would happen if they didnt !! what excuse do they have today apart from being ignorant

Exactly. Kids will test their boundaries of behaviour and see what they can and can't get away with. The only way they learn is when you teach them. The mother of this child has taught her she can get away with this sort of behaviour. Next time she could be dead.

Oh, and I read the HDM article today and saw the picture. The mother says something along the lines of "I haven't seen the footage yet, but she assures me she wasn't messing about. The older kids put their bags on the seats so there was nowhere else to sit".
OK...
1) how can she be stood on the luggage shelf without messing about? Did someone force her up their against her will and stop her from moving?!
And 2) ignoring the fact that there are clearly seats available on the bus on the picture, does the fact there are no seats available mean she can stand on the luggage shelf?! I'm pretty sure the aisles are for standing in if the bus seats are full?!

Basically, I think the mother should stop believing the crap coming out of her daughter's mouth and actually look at the pictures/CCTV footage before spouting off to the paper.

That maybe the case, however the main issue is a child has climbed on a rack (wrongly) and fell out of the window, this behaviour is wrong no doubts there, however it poses some serious health & safety questions with regard to child safety, clarification needs to be sought if the driver saw this and if so why they did not stop and act...It was a moving vehicle a child could have been killed, would people suggest a twelve year old deserved that die to skylarking about?
If you read all my posts you will notice I have not made any reference to the claim. Also I doubt the child would do it again, I am sure it would put the fear of god into most children falling out of an emergency window of a moving bus into the road.

the phrase "natural selection" springs to mind!

Why is it the drivers fault?

I never said it was the drivers fault!!

It needs to be established if the driver saw the incident (girls climbing onto rack), if the driver did, he/her has a responsibility to stop and tell them to get down as an accident could be caused (which it did).
The driver has a responsibility of driving children to school and ensuring their safety were possible this includes his/her driving safely and the safety of the passengers.