Carer struck off for sending six-year-old child home alone on bus

An Angus child care boss has been struck off after sending a six-year-old home alone on a bus.

The youngster was put on the school bus by the manager of an after-school club near Dundee because the child was not registered for that day’s club.

Sarah Stewart has now been removed from the register by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), which said she “failed to act with common sense”.

The six-year-old was sent home alone and had to sit on a bus in the dark before getting off a mile later on to a main road and walking up a track to an empty home.

The child alerted an adult to the situation and was not hurt, but the SSSC warned that there was a risk the child could have been.

Stewart was found to have shown a “serious disregard” for the Code of Practice for Social Service Workers.

“Her behaviour constituted carelessness and a failure in her duty of care,” according to the report into Stewart’s conduct.

The SSSC report added that the care boss was of previous good behaviour and had shown “regret” over the incident.