Judgments | The bus driver left the crying 6-year-old alone on the side of the road fifteen kilometers from the preschool

Western Uusimaa the district court sentenced the bus driver to fines after he had left a crying six-year-old boy, who had just started preschool, alone at the bus stop in Siuntio three years ago in August.

There were 40 daily fines, which came from the driver’s income of almost a thousand euros to be paid. The court also obliged him to pay the boy 600 euros in compensation for mental suffering.

The court considered that the six-year-old child had a weak ability to take care of himself when he was left at a bus stop ten kilometers from his home and fifteen kilometers from his preschool.

The parents were able to get in touch with him using a cell phone, located him and picked him up from the side of the road while he was walking. The situation lasted 30–40 minutes.

The driver denied and said that he had not told the child to leave. He was driving as a driver at the time.

To the situation the mistake made by the driver about the route was particularly effective.

The mother escorted the child to the shuttle bus that the child was supposed to take to school, but the driver did not stop at the child’s school and did not immediately notice the child left on the bus.

The boy only went about fifteen kilometers from school, crying, to tell the driver that he wanted to get off the bus because his stop had already passed.

The driver brought the bus to a stop. The child’s mother told the court that the child had recently told her that the driver told her to get off the bus and be quiet.

The mother also said that the boy had announced that he would no longer ride with his driver. According to the mother, the event had affected the child and she had not wanted to talk about it.

Legal saw that the driver had left the six-year-old child alone on the side of the road at the stop. There was a speed limit of 80 kilometers on the road. The court pointed out that the driver was aware, based on his work experience, that school children were also transported on the route.

He had gone over the route the day before with his manager, but drove it wrong and acted carelessly when he hadn’t checked at the school to see if there were any schoolchildren on the bus.

According to the court, the driver caused a danger to the child’s life and health when he ordered the crying and helpless child to the stop where no adults were present. He should have taken care of the child due to his age and circumstances.