At P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd, the safety and wellbeing of our passengers is at the heart of everything we do.
Every day we carry thousands of passengers across Lincolnshire and the surrounding area, including children and young people travelling to schools and colleges, passengers using our local bus network, and customers travelling on private hires, excursions and coach holidays.
We recognise the particular trust placed in us by parents, carers, schools, colleges and local authorities when children and adults at risk travel with us.
We are committed to providing a safe, welcoming and professional environment for everyone travelling on our services.
P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd takes reasonable and proportionate measures to protect children, young people and adults at risk from abuse, neglect, exploitation, harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
Our safeguarding arrangements include:
Our employees are encouraged to report concerns. They do not need to establish that abuse or inappropriate behaviour has occurred before raising a safeguarding concern.
Our drivers are often the P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd employees with whom passengers have the greatest contact.
We expect our drivers and other employees to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with passengers at all times.
Employees must not:
Being professional does not mean being unfriendly.
We want our drivers to be approachable, courteous and helpful. A friendly driver who knows their passengers and creates a welcoming environment can make an important contribution towards children and vulnerable passengers feeling safe when travelling.
Many children and young people travel independently on public transport every day.
We recognise that this is an important part of developing independence and confidence.
Our drivers are nevertheless encouraged to be particularly alert where a child:
Where there is a concern, our driver can contact the P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd Operations Team for assistance.
We would not knowingly leave a vulnerable child in an unsafe situation simply because a vehicle has reached the end of its journey.
P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd operates a range of school and college transport.
This includes services operated under contract to local authorities and educational establishments as well as registered local bus services designed primarily around the travel requirements of school and college students.
Where we operate transport on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council, our employees are expected to comply with the safeguarding requirements applicable to that transport, including the Council's Driver and Passenger Assistant Handbook.
We work closely with schools, colleges and local authorities where concerns about behaviour or safeguarding arise.
Some P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd services are registered local bus services which are designed predominantly around the needs of children and young people travelling to and from school or college.
Because these are registered local bus services, they may also be available for use by other members of the travelling public.
This is different from a dedicated or closed-door home-to-school transport contract.
The presence of an adult member of the public on a registered local bus service carrying school pupils does not, by itself, represent a safeguarding concern.
Our safeguarding approach is based upon behaviour and risk, rather than assumptions about somebody simply because of their age or because they are travelling on a particular public bus service.
Our drivers are expected to remain vigilant to behaviour on board.
Any behaviour which gives reasonable cause for concern — whether involving an adult, child or another young person — can be reported to our Operations Team and dealt with under our safeguarding procedures.
Where appropriate, we may also liaise with the relevant school, college, parent or carer, local authority, police or other safeguarding agency.
Vehicles within the P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd fleet are equipped with CCTV.
CCTV can play an important role in passenger safety and in establishing what has happened following an incident.
Where a safeguarding concern is reported, relevant CCTV may be secured and reviewed in accordance with our data protection and CCTV procedures.
Where appropriate and lawful, footage may also be provided to the police, local authorities or other relevant authorities.
We want children and young people to feel safe when travelling with us.
Bullying, intimidation, harassment, violence, sexualised behaviour and other serious inappropriate behaviour are not acceptable on our services.
Where a driver witnesses behaviour which causes concern, or a passenger reports such behaviour to us, we will consider the circumstances and take appropriate action.
Depending upon the nature and seriousness of the incident, this may include working with:
Our employees are instructed to take safeguarding disclosures seriously.
They are expected to listen, remain calm and report the concern rather than attempting to investigate the matter themselves.
Employees cannot promise to keep a safeguarding disclosure secret, as information may need to be shared with appropriate people or organisations to protect the individual concerned.
Information is only shared where there is a legitimate reason for doing so and is handled sensitively and appropriately.
Safeguarding works best when organisations work together.
Where appropriate, P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd works with:
We cooperate with safeguarding investigations and will provide relevant information or evidence where it is appropriate and lawful for us to do so.
If you are concerned about something which has happened on a P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd service, please tell us.
It is helpful if you can provide as much information as possible, including:
Providing this information promptly is particularly important where CCTV may need to be secured.
You do not need to decide whether something formally constitutes a safeguarding matter before contacting us. If something has caused you concern, we would rather you tell us.
Telephone: 01522 533605
Email: enquiries@pccoaches.co.uk
For an immediate emergency or where somebody is in immediate danger, always contact the emergency services by calling 999.
Everyone should be able to travel safely and confidently with P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd.
We want children, parents and carers to have confidence in the people providing their transport, while recognising that many of our services form part of the wider public transport network.
Our approach is therefore simple:
Recognise concerns.
Respond appropriately.
Report them.
Take action where necessary.
By working together with our passengers, parents, schools, local authorities and employees, we can help keep everyone travelling with P. C. Coaches of Lincoln Ltd safe.