A Montreal mother is upset after she says her two young daughters were kept on a school bus for three hours earlier this week.
Emmanuelle Porlier says her girls, 10-year-old Heidi and 7-year-old Roxanne, didn’t get off at their usual bus stop Wednesday afternoon where she was waiting for them.
Confused and distraught, Porlier called the bus company and eventually ended up following the vehicle around the city in hopes of reaching her children.
“It was a very stressful experience,” Porlier told CTV Montreal. “I was shaking ... I’m a very calm person, but yesterday I showed another side of me.”
Michael Cohen, a spokesperson for the English Montreal School Board, apologized for the incident and called it “miscommunication” and a “regrettable situation.”
But Cohen said the bus driver did the “prudent thing” under the circumstances because the driver did not have the two girls on his list.
“He did not have them on a list and the safe and prudent thing to do is not to stop, not when a young child says ‘That’s my stop, let me off,’ and there’s an adult waiting who the bus driver doesn’t have any confirmation is the parent,” Cohen said.
He added that the driver was new to the job and taking a new route, and he communicated with head office about the situation.
“There was definitely some communications issues that need to be resolved,” Cohen said.
Arrangements have been made so that Heidi and Roxanne will be able to take the bus tomorrow, Cohen said.
The girls told CTV Montreal that they’re nervous about taking the school bus after this week’s ordeal, but their mother says it’s the only option.
With files from CTV Montreal
