The Ministry of Education has acknowledged some school buses may not be suitable for transporting all wheelchair-bound pupils, after it was made aware of the safety concerns of the parent of a disabled Oamaru teenager.
Pat Fox, of Oamaru, said she believed her 19-year-old daughter's life had been put in danger over at least two days this week, because the school bus was not fitted with the correct anchor points to securely restrain her electric wheelchair.
Mrs Fox said the combined weight of her daughter and the wheelchair was about 250kg.
She added the chair had to be tied down with special webbing straps, floor-mounted brackets and seat belts, but she had been informed by Katelyn's carers at Idea Services
no suitable restraints were in place.
She said the chair appeared to have been restrained by two straps, which had been attached to a ''metal thingy'' and tied to one side of the chair, but there had been no seat belt and the chair could move around and rock.
The lack of proper restraints meant her daughter might have been taken to school on Monday and Wednesday ''in a very unsafe manner'' - one that could have been life-threatening, she said.
''Katelyn has had massive brain surgery as a baby. There is an area of her skull that has no bone. She has thousands of blood vessels tied off.
''A blow to the head would ... kill her.''
Christchurch-based Ritchies Transport Holdings Ltd (RTHL) was awarded the Ministry of Education special education school transport assistance contract to carry special needs children at schools in the Ashburton, Buller, Gore, Marlborough, Oamaru and Rotorua clusters last year.
The ministry's resourcing group manager, John Clark, said all contract tenderers' vehicles had been checked by the New Zealand Transport Agency to ensure they met ''specific age and safety requirements''.
Mr Clark said although all buses were legally compliant, additional structural changes might be required to cater for the ''specific safety needs'' of individual special needs students.
He said the ministry was aware of the concerns raised in Oamaru, but added he was confident the issue would be overcome.
''This specific issue with the wheelchair restraints relates to the larger buses, and the restraints for those buses come under a different New Zealand Transport Agency ruling that states `that only forward facing wheelchairs need to be restrained on a large passenger service vehicle'.
''The buses are fully compliant. However, RTHL will fit new restraints to the Oamaru bus today.
'' In the meantime, the routes are being covered with two vans while the different restraints are being fitted.''
He said a similar issue had also been identified in Ashburton.
''That issue was resolved by the company relocating a wheelchair tour coach, from Auckland, to operate the route until the changes can occur on Friday.
''The ministry is satisfied that when these additional requests are being identified, that all operators are responding promptly to rectify any problem.''
Ritchies director Glenn Ritchie said there was nothing illegal about the bus, and added that the ''super low floor'' buses were used across the country. However, he said the company was ''looking at'' installing additional restraints.
''These are extra ones over and above what we are required to do legally, but you can't do those things overnight.''
