Kinetic school bus Townsville: Driver stood down amid investigation

Kinetic says the school bus driver who allegedly left 20 children on the side of a flooded road in Townsville has been stood down pending investigation. HERE’S THE LATEST.

The flood-prone dip on Chisholm Trail in Oak Valley in rural southern Townsville on Friday. Kinetic has apologised “unreservedly” to the students and parents affected by the incident “where students were incorrectly instructed to exit a school bus due to flooding concerns”. Picture: Supplied

Townsville school bus service provider Kinetic has confirmed that a driver at the centre of claims that 20 children were left on the side of a flooded road has been stood down from his job during a full investigation.

Kinetic has taken the allegations into the incident in Oak Valley on Friday so seriously that company executive general manager Martin Hall arrived in Townsville on Monday.

He is understood to have been in touch with all schools serviced by the route to apologise, advise schools on the investigation, as well as reinforce all involved on Kinetic’s policy on student travel and well-established safety protocols for extreme events such as weather.

Mr Hall told News Corp that the safety of all its passengers, particularly schoolchildren, was of utmost priority, and that it was “taking this incident extremely seriously”.

“A full investigation into the incident is underway,” he confirmed.

“The driver has been temporarily stood down whilst the investigation is ongoing.”

A generic image of a Kinetic bus. The company, which operates school buses in Townsville, prides itself on providing "safe and reliable school travel".

Mr Hall also confirmed that he had been in contact with parents of the children left at the infamous Chisolm Trail dip, which was inundated in fast-moving floodwaters up to 400mm deep on Friday afternoon.

Parents say that the children, as young as five years of age, were forced to forge the dangerous floodwaters on foot and walk home in the rain along a dangerous road with a top speed of 80kmh.

Mr Hall said he had personally contacted the schools and “spoken to parents who have reached out to us and we will continue to do so”.

He encouraged any parents with additional information to email [e-mail].

“All reports of inappropriate conduct on Kinetic services are investigated in full,” he said.

“In the meantime, we have taken action to reinforce safety protocols with all our drivers, to ensure this remains an isolated incident.”

Originally published as Kinetic school bus Townsville: Driver stood down amid investigation