CHILDREN on a school bus were lucky to escape serious injury when it crashed into an overhanging branch, shattering a window and showering them in glass.

Pupils from Farmor’s School were travelling home on the double-decker bus on Friday afternoon when the front window at the top was smashed.

Noah Dobbie, 12, was chatting to his friends just a couple of rows away from the window when the accident happened.

“I heard a massive shatter and glass came flying past me,” he said. “Lots of us got glass in our hair and I got a cut on my arm.”

Noah’s 16-year-old sister Martha was also sitting nearby and was left shaken by the incident.

“She had big shards of glass in her hair,” said Noah. “It makes me cautious not to sit at the front now.”

Noah’s dad and mum, Tony and Sharon Dobbie, said the injuries suffered by the children could have been worse.

Tony said: “What if it had been a bigger branch? It absolutely could have been much worse. A kid could have lost his eye. They were very fortunate.”

He added: “We put our kids on the school bus in the morning and expect them to be safe.”

Tony and Sharon have now written to Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) to say that the double decker bus is not safe for children due to overhanging branches on the route. They have also written to Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

Tony said his children used to catch a minibus to school, which picked them up at about 8am and saw them home by 4pm, but GCC changed it last month.

Noah and Martha now travel for 90 minutes each way on a double-decker, via Cirencester despite Bibury and Fairford being five miles away.

Gloucestershire County Council has now arranged for a single-decker bus to take the children to school when they start back on Monday, after half term.

Farmor’s headteacher Matthew Evans said GCC organises the bus service and that the school supports parents’ calls for a change to the route.

“Students are being taken on quite a long journey when they are living a short distance from school,” he said. “I would emphasise it’s GCC who provide this route and we share this frustration with parents and are supporting them petitioning a better route to school.”

Mr Clifton-Brown has also expressed his deep concerns to the Dobbie family about the accident.

Cllr Will Windsor-Clive from GCC said: “Two home-to-school journeys (Bibury and Aldsworth and Cirencester) have been merged to give good value for money for the county council and for the parents and carers who pay transport costs for their children.

“Although the route meets government advice for the time the journeys take, we’re aware of concerns raised by some parents and we’re planning to review all transport in the area.
“We hope to find a solution that satisfies.”