Petition for Aussie bus driver sacked for leaving girl on bus
The public have thrown their support behind an elderly bus driver who was fired after leaving a five-year-old Queensland girl locked in a school bus for four hours.
Ross Belsham, 79, was sacked from Logan Coaches in Brisbane’s South on Tuesday, despite a lack of evidence to suggest he alone was responsible for the incident.
Several online petitions and a Facebook page have been set up by members of the community in an attempt to restore Ross’ job. Combined, the petitions have received over 1,000 signatures.
“This petition has been started to get Ross Belsham's job reinstated, it’s wrong on many levels that one of our elderly tax paying citizens are being punished,” one petition explained.
“Having a child sneak onto a bus and then having a mother who shows no regard for her child’s safety by being at the designated wait place is the issue here.”
In an interview with 9 News, Ross explained the significant impact the termination would have on his and his wife's lives after 50 years of professional driving.
“I’ve lost my job and I don’t think I’ve had a fair run,” he said. “That’s the end of my life, unless somebody out there wants to give me a job.”
The incident occurred on January 22 when Ross was picking up students from Jimboomba State School. He says he noted a lack of teachers to serve as bus monitors (as required by the school) and, after cleaning his bus and checking for belongings, left the vehicle to look for teachers.
“I got out of the bus, went to the back to look and there was nobody there. There was nobody at the gate, no teachers, nobody walking down. Nobody.”
It’s believed that while Ross was helping the students as they waited for teachers or parents to arrive, five-year-old Alyssa snuck onto the bus, went to the back and fell asleep, unbeknownst to Ross.
He and a number of other witnesses claim they never saw anyone waiting at the Yarrabilba bus stop, where Alyssa would have disembarked, despite the girl’s mother saying otherwise.
“If she was I would’ve stopped. I would’ve wondered what she was doing there and thought where’s Alyssa and naturally stopped. That would’ve been the end of that.”
Tell us in the comment below, do you believe Ross’s termination was unfair?
Image credit: 9 News.