A Southend mum has spoken of her panic after her young autistic son was left alone on a school transport minibus for two and a half hours – while it was parked outside the driver’s own home.
The incident happened on Monday morning, 16 June, when Tracy Hudson’s son failed to arrive at his special educational needs (SEN) school as expected. The boy, who has autism and is selectively mute, was collected from home by a Vecteo-operated school minibus at 7.50am – as he is every school day.
But hours later, Tracy received a call from the school telling her he hadn’t turned up. The school had reportedly been calling to check if he was off sick that day as they hadn’t heard from Tracy.
“I knew I’d put him on the bus,” she said. “The thoughts running through my head leading up to finding him were crazy. I’ve never panicked like I did today.”
The school immediately began searching the site and checking security camera footage. The police were also notified and involved in the search.
Eventually, it emerged that the child had fallen asleep unnoticed at the back of the minibus. With the driver and another staff member failing to realise he was still onboard, the driver drove home and left the vehicle parked outside their house – with the boy still inside.
“He had been on the bus since 7.50am and was found at around 11.30am at the back of the bus,” Tracy said.
“My son doesn’t talk much – he is selectively mute and often falls asleep on the bus as it’s an hour ride. If he had woken on the bus on his own, he would have had a full-on panic attack as he’s a very anxious child. I dread to think what could have happened. His communication would have been limited, and he would have been terrified.”
The minibus is operated by Vecteo, a transport company owned by Southend City Council and is responsible for transporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across the city.
Vecteo states it is “specialist in all forms of community transport including SEND, home-to-school, Dial a Ride, social care transport and adults day care transport.”
Southend City Council and Vecteo were contacted for comment following the incident. On Tuesday morning, Vecteo issued a statement apologising.
A spokesperson said:
“We are deeply distressed and sincerely apologise for the incident that occurred on 16th June 2025, where a child was inadvertently left unattended on one of our transport buses and not dropped off at school as scheduled.
“The safety and well-being of every child entrusted to our care is our top priority, and what happened is unacceptable. Upon learning of the incident, immediate action was taken to ensure the child was located, safe, and reunited with their family as quickly as possible.
“An internal investigation is currently underway and in line with our policies and procedures.”
Many people have expressed shock that such a serious safeguarding lapse could happen on a school service designed specifically for vulnerable children.